Takeoff & Initial Climb · NTSB CEN12LA488
Harold H. Smith Vans — Valentine, NE
| Date | July 27, 2012 |
| Location | Valentine, NE |
| Aircraft | Harold H. Smith Vans |
| Purpose of flight | Personal |
| Conditions | Day · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Landing-landing roll Collision during takeoff/land |
| Pilot age | 73 |
| Pilot total time | 1,768 hrs · Experienced |
| Time in type | 1,030 hrs |
| Fatalities | 1 |
Probable cause
The RV-6 pilot's failure to monitor the location of the RV-4, resulting in the on-ground collision. Contributing to the accident was the RV-6 pilot not ensuring proper separation from the RV-4 and his expectation that the pilot of RV-4 would roll out to the end of the runway.
NTSB findings
- Personnel issues-Action/decision-Info processing/decision-Expectation/assumption-Pilot - F
- Personnel issues-Psychological-Attention/monitoring-Monitoring other aircraft-Pilot - C
What happened
The accident airplanes were part of a flight of four airplanes. The first airplane, an RV-4, landed and exited the runway. The second airplane, another RV-4, landed and was in the process of turning off the runway at a runway intersection. Although the third airplane, an RV-6, had been making S-turns for spacing behind the second RV-4, he did not obtain proper separation and landed and collided with it. The fourth airplane, an RV-4, abandoned the approach, went around, and then landed uneventfully. The RV-6 pilot said he expected that the pilot of the second RV-4 would roll out to the end of the runway.