- Date
- February 27, 1988, 17:15 local (23:15 UTC)
- Place
- Alvin, TX
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N247JBBarnett Drifter XP503
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 28, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19880227021249A
- Case key
- 22473
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
The pilot reassembled the flight controls just prior to flight, and installed the aileron pins to connect the cables, but forget the safety locking devices. During flight, the pins fell out causing a total loss of aileron control.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N247JB
- Reported as
- Barnett Drifter XP503 (DRIFTER XP)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- DR-0247
- Airframe hours
- 56
- Engine
- Rotax 503, 48 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- James S. Barnett
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Unknown · November 18, 1986 · 10 hours before
- Departed
- 6R5 · Alvin, TX
- Airport
- 6R5 · Alvin Airpark, runway 21, 4,000 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 39
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 96 total · 73 in this make and model · 53 as pilot in command · 1 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days · 10 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- HOU, 20 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.