Loss of Control in Flight · NTSB CEN18FA389
Vans RV 4 — Austin, AR
| Date | September 26, 2018 |
| Location | Austin, AR |
| Aircraft | Vans RV 4 (amateur-built) |
| Purpose of flight | Personal |
| Conditions | Day · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Maneuvering Loss of control in flight |
| Pilot age | 45 |
| Pilot total time | 5,623 hrs · High time |
| Time in type | 10 hrs |
| Fatalities | 1 |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot
- Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Angle of attack-Capability exceeded
- Personnel issues-Experience/knowledge-Experience/qualifications-Total experience w/ equipment-Pilot - F
- Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Wind-Gusts-Effect on equipment - F
What happened
The pilot was conducting a local personal flight to fly over his home; it was the pilot's first flight in the airplane without a flight instructor. According to radar data, the airplane started to descend and the ground speed increased from about 100 knots to about 145 knots just before the airplane flew over the pilot's home. according to a witness, the airplane approached the house and the right wing tipped up, the airplane climbed briefly, and then the airplane rolled inverted, descended, and impacted terrain.
Postaccident examination of the airplane and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operations. The description of the flight sequence is consistent with an accelerated stall when the airplane entered into a left bank as the pilot flew over his home.
The pilot had completed a total of 10 hours of instruction in the accident airplane. According to the pilot's flight instructor, most of the pilot's training time consisted of takeoffs and landings and minimal time was spent training maneuvers and performance characteristics.