- Date
- March 11, 2005, 13:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Dillard, OR
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N481DBBirtch Kitfox II
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 8, 2005
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Portland FSDO
- FAA report
- 20050311002779A
- Case key
- 61150
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 clearance from obstacles while in cruise flight at low altitude, which resulted in an inflight collision with a power line. A factor was the pilot's decision to fly at low altitude.
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 reported that he was cruising upstream on a river when the airplane "struck the upper power lines (about 80 feet above water) with prop and left gear leg." The aircraft assumed a nose down attitude and then "released itself from the wires." The pilot attempted to recover, but the airplane "pancaked into the river" where it came to rest upright in "knee deep" water. The left wing sustained structural damage, and the right lift strut was bent.
Factual narrative
On March 11, 2005, about 1300 Pacific standard time, a Birtch Kitfox II amateur-built airplane, N481DB, sustained substantial damage when it collided with a power line during cruise flight and then descended into the South Umpqua River near Dillard, Oregon. The commercial pilot and the passenger were not injured. The personal flight was being operated by the pilot under 14 CFR Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The local flight departed from a private airstrip in Dillard about 1230.
The pilot reported that he was cruising upstream on the South Umpqua River when the airplane "struck the upper power lines (about 80 feet above water) with prop and left gear leg." The aircraft assumed a nose down attitude and then "released itself from the wires." The pilot attempted to recover, but the airplane "pancaked into the river" where it came to rest upright in "knee deep" water.
An FAA inspector examined the airplane and reported that the left wing sustained structural damage, and the right lift strut was bent.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N481DB
- Reported as
- Birtch Kitfox II
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 552
- Engine
- Rotax 582, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Nels T. Hult
- Registered owner
- David W Birtch
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- Dillard, OR
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
- 57
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 577 total · 10 in this make and model · 2 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.