- Date
- September 29, 1990, 17:00 local (Sep 30, 1990, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- El Mirage, CA
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N91RRVolksplane WE-1
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 23, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900929043469A
- Case key
- 26540
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 failure to maintain airspeed.
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 tookoff from a dry lake bed into a left quartering crosswind. Video tape and ground witnesses described a nsoe high attitude after liftoff prior to the pilot initiating a turn to the right. During the turn the airplane stalled and fell right wing down and nose low to ground.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N91RR
- Reported as
- Volksplane WE-1
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 8792252
- Engine
- Volkswagen 1796 CC, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91 subpart F
- Operator
- Turner, Fred L.
- Registered owner
- Rhoads, Richard R
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
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
- 42
- Medical
- Invalid Medical for flight
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 100 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 10 knots, gusting 20
- 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.