- Date
- May 10, 1996, 12:00 local (19:00 UTC)
- Place
- Redmond, OR
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N52898Limes Challenger II
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 28, 1997
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19960510010219A
- Case key
- 42364
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 misjudgment of distance and altitude on final approach, and his failure to maintain proper clearance from an object (fence) in his approach path. The fence was a related factor.
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
While on short final to a 500 foot long, grass field, the homebuilt aircraft clipped the top wire of a fence and then collided with terrain. The pilot reported that the aircraft could be landed in 150 feet of ground roll.
Factual narrative
On May 10, 1996, approximately 1200 hours Pacific daylight time, a homebuilt Limes Challenger II, N52898, being flown by a private pilot, was substantially damaged when the aircraft impacted a fence and collided with terrain while landing in a field near Redmond, Oregon. The pilot was uninjured. Visual meteorological conditions existed at the time and no flight plan had been filed. The flight, which was personal, was to have been operated under 14CFR91, and originated from the Cline Falls Air Park airport, Cline Falls, Oregon, approximately 1145.
The pilot reported that the aircraft required 150 feet for landing roll and that he was executing an approach to an open field approximately 500 feet in length. He further reported that on short final he "felt the wind push (me) down , immediately (I) corrected with full power and nose up control but there was not time to recover." One of the aircraft's main wheels impacted the top wire of a fence and the aircraft pitched down and impacted the ground.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N52898
- Reported as
- Limes Challenger II (CHALLENGER)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- CH2-03930961
- Engine
- Rotax 503, 52 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Begley, Daniel, E.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Departed
- 3OR8 · Cline Falls, 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
- 50
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Expired
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 500 total · 30 in this make and model · 415 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 320° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 27 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- RDM, 5 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.