- Date
- August 15, 2026, 13:00 local (17:00 UTC)
- Place
- Ripley Landing, WV
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N601EZMcfarland Larry C Zenith 601 HDS
- Defining event
- Approach-VFR pattern crosswind: Loss of engine power (total)
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Investigation ongoing
- Investigation class
- Class 3
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20260815009439A
- Case key
- 203608
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Preliminary report
What NTSB knew early in the investigation. It may change in the final report.
On August 15, 2026, about 1300 eastern daylight time, an experimental, amateur-built Zenith 601 HDS airplane, N601EZ, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Ripley Landing, West Virginia. The private pilot was seriously injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot departed Jackson County Airport, Ravenswood, West Virginia (I18), with the intention of practicing touch and go landings at the airport. The pilot reported that during the left turn onto the downwind leg of the airport traffic pattern, the engine lost all power. The pilot turned the airplane towards the airport but did not have enough altitude to glide to it. The pilot made an emergency off field landing in a tree clearing about 1.2 miles south-southeast of the airport. Upon touchdown, the nose gear impacted terrain, the airplane then nosed over and came to rest inverted. The pilot was trapped under the wreckage until the following day when he was located by first responders about 0900. The wreckage was recovered and retained for further examination.
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.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N601EZ
- Reported as
- Mcfarland Larry C Zenith 601 HDS
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 6-4117
- Built
- 2004
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- I18 · Ravenswood, WV
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- I18 · Jackson County, runway 22, 4,000 × 75 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Unknown
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.
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 1,200 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.21 inHg
- Observed at
- PKB, 31 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KPKB 151653Z 00000KT 10SM OVC012 25/21 A3021 RMK AO2 SLP222 T02500206=
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.