FTW96LA359

The pilot said that when he turned onto final approach, the 'aircraft seemed to drop out of (the) sky from a wings level attitude.' A witness stated he observed the pilot perform 'a very nicely executed' wingover from an altitude of 150 to 200 feet and collide with the ground. One pilot said there was a 10 knot wind out of the east prior to the accident. Immediately after the accident, he observed 'a column of vertical dust southwest of the airport (appeared like a microburst),' and felt the accident pilot may have encountered a sudden wind shift.

On August 24, 1996, at 1914 mountain daylight time, a Fernandez Baby Ace D, N316F, was destroyed while maneuvering near New Raymer, Colorado. The private pilot was seriously injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight conducted under Title 14 CFR Part 91. The flight originated approximately 30 minutes before the accident.

According to the pilot's statement, dictated at the hospital to an FAA airworthiness inspector, he had practiced stalls and steep turns, and was returning to the airstrip to land. The pilot said that when he turned onto final approach, the "aircraft seemed to drop out of (the) sky from a wings level attitude." The pilot said he applied power and lowered the nose to gain airspeed, but the airplane collided with the ground.

The only known witness to the accident, a retired senior judge, said that just prior to the accident, the pilot flew west over the runway at an altitude of 150 to 200 feet agl (above ground level). When he was beyond the runway threshold, the pilot pulled up sharply and turned right to the north at an estimated 60 degree bank. The pilot completed what he described as a wingover, "a very nicely executed one." The airplane passed through the horizon with the nose "nearly straight down." The witness said the airplane did not spin.

Another pilot at the airport, who did not see the accident, said there was a 10 knot wind out of the east. When he heard that the airplane had crashed, he came out of the hangar and saw "a column of vertical dust southwest of the airport (appeared like a microburst)," and felt the pilot may have encountered a sudden wind shift. The accident site was approximately one mile west of the airport.