Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On April 23, 2011, approximately 1530 mountain daylight time, a Cub Crafters CC11-160, N143FJ, registered to and operated by Flying Js, LLC, Lone Tree, Colorado, was substantially damaged when it was seen to stall and spin to the ground at the Everitt Airport (Rocky Mountain Airpark, 1CO8), Parker, Colorado. Visual meteorological conditions (VMC) prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was being conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 without a flight plan. The pilot and passenger on board the airplane were fatally injured. The local flight had just originated.

The pilot reportedly was giving a demonstration flight for a group of girl scouts. An adult member of the group said he had never flown in a light airplane, and the pilot invited him along.

A video was taken from a cellular telephone by a witness. Examination of the video recording showed the airplane taking off and assuming a steep angle of climb. The airplane leveled off and appeared to be motionless. The right wing then dropped and the airplane spun to the ground (approximately 1 complete turn). High winds prevailed at the time of the accident.

Photographs were recovered from the passenger’s camera, which were taken out the right window seconds before the accident. A group of people could be seen standing on the ground and looking up at the airplane.

One pilot-witness was standing in his driveway on the south side of the runway. He said the wind was from the south between 180 to 190 degrees and 15 to 20 knots with occasional gusts. He said the airplane lifted off after a 200-foot ground roll and climbed to an altitude between 150 and 200 feet. Ground speed appeared to drop to zero as the airplane hovered in the high wind. Suddenly, the right wing dropped sharply and the airplane made a high speed descending right hand turn, striking the ground in a right wing-down, nose-up (30-degrees) attitude. He did not see anything fall off of the airplane in flight, nor did he hear any unusual engine sounds. Another eye witness, a former Army National Guard pilot, saw the airplane “in slow flight.” He said the flaps appeared to be down. The airplane made a tight 180-degree turn, appeared to hover, then pitched down and rotated before disappeared from view.

Others witnesses, who did not see the accident but had seen the pilot flying the airplane on previous occasions, elected to submit statements. One witness said he saw the airplane flying on the previous afternoon, and was surprised the pilot was flying in such windy conditions. He saw the airplane take off and fly directly into the wind. The pilot held it completely still in the wind, “like a helicopter,” then he would point the nose straight up so that it was almost at a 90-degree angle to the ground. The pilot would then roll the airplane over to the right or left, descend straight down and pull up. He would then repeat this maneuver. Another pilot-witness said he