- Date
- June 5, 2001, 19:00 local (23:00 UTC)
- Place
- Sayre, PA
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- UNREGInterplane Sky Boy
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 28, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- Case key
- 52427
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 an adequate climb 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
During the initial climbout after takeoff, the ultralight was observed rolling from side to side. It then rolled inverted and impacted the runway. The pilot reported that he "failed to maintain optimal climbing speed."
Factual narrative
On June 5, 2001, about 1900 eastern daylight time, an Interplane Skyboy, an unregistered ultralight, was substantially damaged during takeoff from Blue Swan Airport, Sayre, Pennsylvania. The non-certificated pilot received serious injuries. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the instructional flight. No flight plan had been filed for the local flight that was conducted under 14 CFR Part 103.
According to the pilot:
"Upon take off I failed to maintain optimal climbing speed. Aircraft rolled to the right [and] the left and made contact [with the] ground."
According to a witness, the pilot initiated a takeoff from runway 28, with winds coming from straight ahead at 4 knots. The ultralight became airborne in a nose-high attitude after a ground run of a few hundred feet. Once airborne, the wings rocked from side to side, and the ultralight climbed to about 25 feet above the runway surface. The ultralight then rolled 180 degrees to the right, and descended onto the runway in an inverted, nose down attitude. The witness then ran to the wreckage and extracted the pilot.
The witness also reported that the accident pilot flew the ultralight earlier the same day for 0.5 hours. After that flight, the witness flew it and noted no problems. The accident pilot then departed on the accident flight.
The pilot purchased the ultralight in Florida, and received his initial flight training there. He soloed the ultralight on April 28, 2001. It was then disassembled, and transported to Pennsylvania. It was not flown again until the date of the accident.
The pilot had 15.4 hours of flight experience, including 1 hour of solo flight, all in make and model. The pilot's logbook contained an endorsement for solo flight from his flight instructor. The pilot did not possess a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airman's medical certificate or a student pilot certificate, nor were they required.
The ultralight was manufactured in the Czech Republic, and sold as an "ultralight trainer." It was equipped with a pitot-static type airspeed indicator. It was not equipped with an attitude indicator, and climb attitude was maintained by outside visual reference.
Aircraft
- Registration
- UNREG
- Reported as
- Interplane Sky Boy
- Category
- Ultralight
- Serial number
- 8/2000
- Airframe hours
- 52.8
- Engine
- Rotax 582UL-2V, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 103
- Registered owner
- Walter Finch
- Departed
- N32 · Sayre, PA
- Destination
- N32 · Sayre, PA
- Airport
- N32 · Blue Swan, runway 28, 2,850 × 150 ft, grass/turf
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 59
- Injuries
- Serious
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 15 total · 15 in this make and model · 1 as pilot in command · 15 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 12,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.04 inHg
- Observed at
- ELM, 18 nm away