- Date
- October 25, 2024, 11:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- South Charleston, WV · Airport property
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 2 uninjured; on the ground: 1 serious
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N401GAero SP Z O O AT-4 LSA
- Defining event
- Landing-landing roll: AC/prop/rotor contact w person
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20241025015289A
- Case key
- 195416
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pedestrian’s inadequate visual lookout while walking next to an active runway, which resulted in the airplane striking him during taxi.
Findings · 1
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
At the conclusion of a short cross-country flight, the flight instructor and student pilot elected to a perform takeoff and landings at their destination airport. The airport was privately owned, the single asphalt runway was 1,900 ft-long by 24 ft-wide, and there was no taxiway parallel to the runway. The flight instructor stated that, he scanned the runway for obstructions and announced over the airport’s Common Traffic Advisory Frequency the airplane’s position in the traffic pattern and their intent to land. No obstructions were observed during the landing. As the pilots taxied the airplane down the recently-paved runway, a person wearing dark-colored clothing “suddenly” came into view. The person was walking along the runway with his back toward the approaching airplane. The airplane’s left wingtip contacted the pedestrian and knocked him forcefully to the ground, resulting in serious injuries. The airplane’s wingtip incurred minor damage. The flight instructor then stopped the airplane, and he and the student rendered aid to the pedestrian until emergency responders arrived. The flight instructor reported that the pedestrian typically carried a hand-held radio that he would use to listen for traffic calls, but he was not carrying it with him on the day of the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N401G
- Reported as
- Aero SP Z O O AT-4 LSA
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- AT4-007
- Built
- 2007
- Airframe hours
- 244.4
- Engine
- Rotax 912ULS, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental light sport (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 30, 2024 · 6 hours before
- Departed
- GAS · Gallipolis, OH
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- WV12 · Mallory Airport, runway 34, 1,900 × 24 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, Handheld GPS
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 50
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 6, 2024
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 738 total · 15 in this make and model · 600 as pilot in command · 90 in the last 90 days · 32 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Student pilot
- Injuries
- None
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 37 total · 9 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 160° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,800 ft broken
- Temperature
- 54 °F, dew point 46 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.15 inHg
- Observed at
- CRW, 8 nm away
- METAR
- KCRW 251554Z 16004KT 10SM -RA BKN048 OVC070 12/08 A3015 RMK AO2 RAB42 SLP211 P0000 T01220078
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on June 13, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 4.2 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.