- Date
- October 24, 2025, 15:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Williston, SC · RY 31 / 95SC - Collided with trees on takeoff
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N43822Rans Employee Flying Club Rans S-6ES Coyote II
- Defining event
- Initial climb: Controlled flight into terr/obj (CFIT)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report December 11, 2025
- 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
- 20251024018479A
- Case key
- 201922
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 pilot’s failure to maintain directional control of the airplane during the initial climb in gusting crosswind conditions.
Findings · 3
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
The pilot was departing from a 2,395-ft-long by 50-ft-wide turf runway. The pilot reported that after the airplane lifted off the ground, a wind gust lifted the right wing and the airplane turned to the left. The airplane subsequently impacted trees off the left of the runway and came to rest suspended in the trees. The right wing and empennage sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N43822
- Reported as
- Rans Employee Flying Club Rans S-6ES Coyote II
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 12041628
- Built
- 2005
- Airframe hours
- 877
- Engine
- Rotax 912UL-EPL, 80 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special); Special, Experimental light sport (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · August 13, 2025
- Destination
- 6J6 · Trenton, SC
- Airport
- 95SC · Buckeye Fld, runway 31, 2,395 × 50 ft, grass/turf
- Equipment
- Onboard weather, Handheld GPS, ADS-B
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
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 69
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Sport Pilot, Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed
- Last flight review
- August 6, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 323 total · 90 in this make and model · 285 as pilot in command · 14 in the last 90 days · 5 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 3019.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BNL, 9 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KBNL 241855Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 23/02 A3019
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 11, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 7.7 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.