- Date
- August 23, 1987, 14:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Ramona, CA
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N6524JSawyer DF-9
- Weather
- Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 24, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19870823069349A
- Case key
- 25320
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
During the third test flt, the plt was to fly the acft to 6000 ft for slow flt and flutter testing at increasing speeds to 200 mph. The plt was then to complete a shallow descent to touch-down with an on final, over-the-fence speed not to exceed 75 mph. Instead, upon reaching aprx 300 ft AGL he dove the plane to aprx 50 ft and proceeded to do a high speed pass down the rwy. At three quarters the way down the rwy a loud bang was heard and a piece of the elevator separated from the acft. The plane dove slightly then collided with the terrain.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6524J
- Reported as
- Sawyer DF-9
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Airframe hours
- 3
- Engine
- Continental O-200, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Sawyer, Jeffrey S.
- Registered owner
- Jeffrey S Sawyer
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · August 1, 1987 · 3 hours before
- Departed
- L39 · Romona, CA
- Airport
- L39 · Ramona, runway 27, 4,000 × 50 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
- 34
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 6,500 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 25 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.