- Date
- June 26, 1987, 20:05 local (Jun 27, 1987, 01:05 UTC)
- Place
- Arlington, TX
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N172SLRollins Starlite
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 24, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19870626027289A
- Case key
- 22171
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
This was the first flight for the 156 hour private pilot in this make and model airplane, however, he had previously made several high speed taxi runs in it. According to witnesses, the pilot used only about half throttle for the attempted takeoff. The aircraft reportedly should have lifted off within 300 feet, but instead, it failed to break ground until it was about 2,000 feet down the runway. It climbed to about 50 feet AGL and then the nose pitched up to about a 20 degree attitude and the airspeed dropped to about 30 mph or less. It then stalled and rolled sharply left and went inverted. The aircraft then entered a near vertical nose down attitude which was maintained until ground impact occurred. Postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed no evidence of aircraft, engine, or system failure or malfunction. Likewise, the pathological and toxicological examination of the pilot revealed no significant findings.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N172SL
- Reported as
- Rollins Starlite
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 172
- Airframe hours
- 56
- Engine
- Rotax 447, 40 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Alton R.Rollins
- Registered owner
- Kenny J. Rollins
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Unknown · June 8, 1987 · 10 hours before
- Airport
- F54 · Arlington, runway 34, 4,000 × 100 ft, concrete
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
- 33
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 156 total · 116 as pilot in command · 9 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 50° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 55 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- NBE, 8 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.