Colorado Aviation Accidents & Incidents

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On September 15, 2007, at 1343 mountain daylight time, an Evektor-Aerotechnik a.s. SportStar special light sport airplane (S-LSA), N616EV, owned and operated by SkyRaider Aviation, Inc., was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain at the Erie Municipal Airport (EIK), Erie, Colorado. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The instructional flight was being conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 without a flight plan. The student pilot and commercial certificated flight instructor were fatally injured. The local flight departed at 1237.

According to Global Positioning System (GPS) data recovered from the accident airplane, the airplane departed EIK at 1237:32 and proceeded as far north as Loveland, Colorado (37 miles north of EIK). The airplane climbed to a GPS altitude of 8,000 feet mean sea level (msl) and performed multiple course reversals. Towards the end of the flight the airplane proceeded south towards EIK. The altitude, airspeed, and flight path of the last two minutes of the flight are consistent with a touch and go landing on runway 15 at EIK. The last line of GPS data was recorded at 1342:53 at a ground speed of 3 miles per hour and an altitude of 5,220 feet msl.

The Erie Police Department took witness statements from 9 individuals. The National Transportation Safety Board (Safety Board) Investigator in Charge (IIC) received 2 written statements and interviewed 3 witnesses. These witnesses were located to the east and west of the impact location along highway 7, and north of the impact location at EIK. According to these witnesses, the airplane was performing a touch-and-go landing on runway 15 (4,700 feet by 60 feet, concrete). The owner of SkyRaider Aviation observed the airplane touch down and initiate a takeoff roll and climb. He stated the airplane "looked normal" and he looked away. Several witnesses observed the airplane reverse course 180 degrees from a southerly heading to a northerly heading. The airplane nose pitched up and then dropped. The airplane spun to the ground, impacting in a slight nose low, right wing low attitude.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

Certified Flight Instructor

The flight instructor, age 41, held a commercial pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land, airplane multiengine land, and instrument rating, last issued on January 3, 2006. He held a flight instructor certificate with airplane single-engine, multiengine, and instrument airplane privileges. He was issued a second class airman medical certificate on January 31, 2006. The certificate contained no limitations.

A copy of the flight instructor's flight log was provided by the family. A review of the logbook indicated that he had logged no less than 418.3 hours total time; 330.9 hours in single-engine airplanes, 56.7 hours dual given, and 2.2 hours in the make and model of the accident airplane. The flight instructor's first flight in an Evektor