- Date
- September 9, 1987, 16:40 local (20:40 UTC)
- Place
- Hilltown, PA
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N23EHKolb Twinstar
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report March 31, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19870909051569A
- Case key
- 30440
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
After the acft took off, witnesses heard a power change & saw what appeared to be a left turn to return to the grass strip. Subsequently, it entered a descent & crashed in a left wing down, nose low attitude. The passenger was taken to a hospital, but died about 9-1/2 hrs after the acdnt. Exams of the acft & eng were made. No preexisting mechanical failure or malfunction was noted, except damage to the wooden prop was consistent with little or no eng power. The klob twinstar was a follow-on, two-place acft that was manufactured after the single-place, ultralight, klob ultrastar was produced. Rprtdly, the acft had been equipped with many accessories, which when combined with the weight of the plt & passenger, would have exceeded its normal gross weight.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N23EH
- Reported as
- Kolb Twinstar
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- NONE
- Airframe hours
- 88
- Engine
- Rotax 503, 55 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Edward Handschin
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
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 750 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.