- Date
- February 23, 1984, 12:00 local (18:00 UTC)
- Place
- Blytheville, AR
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- UNREGPioneer Flightstar
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 33564
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
The acft spun into the ground from about 500 ft AGL. The vehicle had been observed by witnesses to be in slow flt makingturns to the right. After 180 degrees of turn, the nose pitched down to about 60 degrees and the left wing went down to about 75 degrees of bank angle. After 4 and 1/2 turns, the ultralight impacted the ground in an open field just east of the arpt. The plt was seriously injured and does not remember the accident, according to a witness who talked to him at the scene. The plt stated that he was demonstrating spins to prospective buyers and a piece of the propeller came offand hit him in the head knocking off his helmet rendering him unconscious. This happened at 1200 ft, he said in a telephone interview. The plts helmet was found 8 ft behind the plt at the scene. One blade of the propeller was broken off at the root of the blade and was found alongside the propeller in the wreckage. One of the first persons on the scenesaid that the plt had his helmet on at impact.
Aircraft
- Registration
- UNREG
- Reported as
- Pioneer Flightstar
- Category
- Ultralight
- Serial number
- 476
- Engine
- Kawasaki TA-440/A, 35 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 103
- Registered owner
- James Terry Sheddan
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 38
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Flight engineer
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 3,700 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 210° at 12 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BYH, 6 nm away