- Date
- July 22, 2025, 16:40 local (22:40 UTC)
- Place
- Logan, UT · On airport
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N422KHartline J Bon Hartline Kitfox III
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Loss of control in flight
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report October 2, 2025
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Western Pacific Region
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration
- FAA report
- 20250722020259A
- Case key
- 200648
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 airplane control during takeoff in variable wind and high density altitude conditions.
Findings · 5
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot of the tailwheel equipped airplane reported that during takeoff roll, the airplane did not lift off when expected, and that the controls were sluggish. He applied flaps and the airplane “popped up off the runway.” Once airborne, the airplane began to drift to the right and despite the pilot’s corrections, continued to drift to the right. Subsequently, the airplane descended, landed hard, and came to rest upright, about 90° off runway heading. The right wing and fuselage sustained substantial damage. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. He added that prior to takeoff, he did not check the windsock prior to takeoff and did not compensate enough for the high density altitude and the airplane being near its maximum gross weight. At the time of the accident, the pilot was taking off on runway 28, with wind variable from 180° to 270° at 9 knots. The calculated density altitude at the time of the accident was 7,501 ft.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N422K
- Reported as
- Hartline J Bon Hartline Kitfox III
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1000
- Built
- 1991
- Airframe hours
- 1,270.6
- Engine
- Rotax 912UL, 80 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Condition · July 20, 2024
- Airport
- LGU · Logan Cache Airport, runway 28, 4,075 × 60 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic flight bag or handheld device
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
- 68
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 2, 2024
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 1,109.7 total · 50.6 in this make and model · 926.3 as pilot in command · 41.3 in the last 90 days · 5.6 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 190° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 90 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.93 inHg
- Observed at
- KLGU
- METAR
- METAR KLGU 222251Z AUTO 19007KT 10SM CLR 32/02 A2993
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on October 2, 2025, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.4 MB 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.