- Date
- September 9, 1995, 13:45 local (19:45 UTC)
- Place
- Keenesburg, CO
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N36DJJohnson Rebel 300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 30, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19950909028109A
- Case key
- 19575
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
Inadvertent stall during approach. A factor was the pilot's lack of total experience in make and model.
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 received his private pilot certificate the day prior to the accident. According to his logbook, he flew the accident aircraft for one hour prior to the accident flight. While on base leg to landing at a private airstrip, the aircraft was observed in a 'tight' turn. While in this turn the aircraft was observed by witnesses to pitch down and impact the ground. Examination of the aircraft by an FAA inspector provided no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction.
Factual narrative
On September 9, 1995, at 1345 mountain daylight time, a Johnson Rebel 300, N36DJ, experimental homebuilt, impacted the ground during approach to a private airstrip near Keenesburg, Colorado. The private pilot received fatal injuries and the aircraft was destroyed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for this cross country flight operating in accordance with 14 CFR Part 91 and no flight plan was filed.
According to his pilot logbook and FAA records, the pilot received his private certificate on September 8, 1995, the day prior to the accident. The pilot's log reflected that he had flown the aircraft for one hour prior to the accident flight. According to information given to the FAA inspector, who performed the on-scene portion of the investigation, the aircraft was observed in a tight turn on base leg to runway 18 when it pitched sharply nose down and impacted the ground approximately one quarter mile short of the runway. The pilot was transported by helicopter to the hospital in Greeley, Colorado, and expired approximately three hours following the accident.
Examination of the aircraft by an FAA inspector provided no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N36DJ
- Reported as
- Johnson Rebel 300
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 520-880020
- Airframe hours
- 409
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-EXP, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Gerald Dust
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 8, 1995
- Departed
- 2V2 · Longmont, CO
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
- 17
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 324 total · 1 in this make and model · 3 as pilot in command · 34 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 100° at 10 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,599 ft broken
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GXY, 40 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.