- Date
- October 27, 2019, 11:53 local (15:53 UTC)
- Place
- Daytona Beach, FL
- Injuries
- 2 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N35HWHiggins John H/Williams John D Questair Venture
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 21, 2020
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20191027021959A
- Case key
- 100606
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
The pilot's unstabilized approach, which resulted in a hard, bounced landing, loss of directional control, and impact with a tree and then terrain.
Findings · 4
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
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.
Analysis
The pilot reported that, during landing, his approach was unstable with an excessive descent rate. Surveillance video footage showed that the airplane touched down hard at the start of the displaced threshold, bounced, veered right, exited the side of the runway, clipped a tree, and then impacted terrain. A postcrash fire ensued. The airplane sustained thermal and substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage. The pilot report that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that during landing, his approach was unstable with an excessive descent rate. Surveillance video footage showed that the airplane touched down hard at the start of the displaced threshold, bounced, veered right and exited the side of the runway where it impacted terrain, and a post-crash fire ensued. The airplane sustained thermal and substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage. The pilot did not report a preaccident mechanical failure or malfunction with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot did not submit the National Transportation Safety Board Pilot/Operator Aircraft Accident/Incident Report Form 6120.1.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N35HW
- Reported as
- Higgins John H/Williams John D Questair Venture (MDL 20)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 99
- Built
- 2019
- Engine
- Continental IO-550-N, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Airport
- 7FL6 · Spruce Creek, runway 24, 4,002 × 176 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.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 80
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine sea, Multi-engine sea, Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane, Helicopter
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 86 °F, dew point 73 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.02 inHg
- Observed at
- KEVB, 5 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 6, 2020, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 321 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.