- Date
- November 5, 1999, 15:26 local (20:26 UTC)
- Place
- Dixfield, ME
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N63307Knox HI-MAX
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 30, 2000
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19991105046099A
- Case key
- 47747
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 obtain the proper touchdown point. A factor in the accident was the pilot's lack of experience in make and model.
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 stated that while landing, he became low on the approach and added power to correct. The pilot then 'cut' the power and continued the approach. As the airplane neared the ground, it hit a 3-foot high hill with the landing gear and flipped over on its back. This was the pilot's first flight in the homebuilt airplane.
Factual narrative
On November 5, 1999, about 1526 Eastern Standard Time, a homebuilt Hi-Max, N63307, was substantially damaged while landing at the Swans Field Airport, Dixfield, Maine. The certificated private pilot received serious injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
The pilot stated that while landing on Runway 12, a 2,000-foot long grass runway, he became low on the approach and added power to correct. The pilot then "cut" the power and continued the approach. As the airplane neared the ground, it hit a 3-foot high hill with the landing gear and flipped over on its back.
This was the pilot's first flight in the homebuilt airplane.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N63307
- Reported as
- Knox HI-MAX
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 817
- Airframe hours
- 3
- Engine
- Volkswagen 1600CC, 50 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Gerald Knox
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 6, 1998 · 3 hours before
- Departed
- ME22
- Airport
- 3S2 · Swans Field Airport, runway 12, 2,000 × 100 ft, grass/turf
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
- 52
- Certificate
- Private
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 108 total · 1 in this make and model · 76 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 20,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- AUG, 28 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.