- Date
- August 12, 1989, 16:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- Malabar, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N302RSSmith Kitfox II
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 13, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890812032109A
- Case key
- 32477
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
Failure of the pilot to maintain adequate airspeed during takeoff, which resulted in a stall.
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 plt stated that during takeoff on the acft's 1st flt, it entered a nose high attitude, stalled & crashed about 100 yds from the departure end of the rwy. The plt was rprtd to have said that 'there was insufficient downward elevator travel and the angle of incidence of the horizontal stabilizer was past the negative limits.' The acft designer rprtd that the horizontal stabilizer was properly positioned. The wing twist was found to be 1.88 deg per 13.5 ft versus the specified wing twist of 3.65 deg. The downward deflection of the elevator was measured to be 28.2 degrees versus the designed 25 degrees. The c.g. was rprtd to be within limits.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N302RS
- Reported as
- Smith Kitfox II
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 302
- Engine
- Rotax 532LC, 64 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Smith, Richard
- Airport
- X59 · Valkaria, runway 4, 3,600 × 75 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
- 46
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 1,200 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 20,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- VRB, 20 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.