- Date
- July 4, 2002, 08:45 local (15:45 UTC)
- Place
- Prineville, OR
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N777XPWelborn Pulsar XP
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 23, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA Hillsboro FSDO
- FAA report
- 20020704015739A
- Case key
- 55156
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 disconnection of the throttle cable on landing resulting in the aircraft's engine going to full throttle and the pilot's subsequent failure to maintain directional control after securing the engine during the landing event.
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 of the homebuilt Welborn Pulsar XP reported that upon arrival at the Prineville airport he conducted a successful touch and go to runway 28. During the second landing the throttle cable disconnected and the throttle went to full power. The aircraft bounced back into the air and then returned to the runway surface, and the pilot then shut the engine down as the aircraft began veering left. The pilot was unable to prevent the aircraft from departing the runway at which time all three landing gear collapsed. Local winds were reported as 020 degrees at 5 knots.
Factual narrative
On July 4, 2002, approximately 0845 Pacific daylight time, a homebuilt Welborn Pulsar XP, N777XP, registered to and being flown by a private pilot, was substantially damaged during landing at the Prineville airport, Prineville, Oregon. The pilot was uninjured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed. The flight, which was personal, was operated under 14 CFR 91, and originated from a non-airspaced landing site approximately eight miles southeast of Prineville approximately 0830.
The pilot reported that he departed the landing site en route to Prineville to practice landings at the Prineville airport. Upon arrival he conducted his first landing successfully. The pilot reported that during the second landing on runway 28 the throttle "came off in his hand," the engine went to full power, and the aircraft bounced back into the air and then returned to the runway surface. The pilot then shut the engine down as the aircraft began veering left and all three landing gear collapsed as the aircraft departed the runway.
The aviation surface weather observation for Redmond airport 11 nautical miles southwest of Prineville near the time of the accident was reporting the wind as coming from 020 degrees magnetic at 5 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N777XP
- Reported as
- Welborn Pulsar XP
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 372
- Airframe hours
- 395
- Engine
- Rotax 912, 80 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Welborn, Harold L.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 1, 2002 · 1 hours before
- Departed
- Prineville, OR
- Destination
- S39 · Prineville, OR
- Airport
- S39 · Prineville, runway 28, 5,000 × 60 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
- 78
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- August 17, 2000
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 447 total · 377 in this make and model · 447 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 20° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.09 inHg
- Observed at
- RDM, 11 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 11, 2003, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 363 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.