14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, November 20, 2011 in Plato Center, IL
Probable Cause Approval Date: 10/30/2014
Aircraft: SKYKITS SAVANNAH VGW, registration: N61XT
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
A witness reported that the student pilot taxied the airplane to the west end of the runway, and then he taxied the length of the runway to the east. He then taxied the airplane back to the west end of the runway before departing. The airplane became airborne and climbed to about the height of a nearby barn (about 50 feet above ground level) when the airplane’s wings began to “wobble.” Then the airplane turned left and nosed straight down. The student pilot intended to obtain a sport pilot’s certificate with a single-engine land rating but had not started his flight instruction at the time of the accident. He was an accomplished noncertificated ultra-light gyroplane pilot, but he did not possess a Federal Aviation Administration gyroplane pilot’s certificate. The pilot had purchased the airplane but had not received any flight instruction in the airplane, and he did not have a solo endorsement to fly the airplane. Except for a 0.4-hour demonstration flight in the airplane, the accident flight was the first time the accident pilot flew the airplane. The postaccident examinations of the airframe and engine revealed no evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Postaccident toxicology testing indicated that the pilot had used chlorpheniramine, but it could not be determined if impairment from the medication contributed to the accident.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The noncertificated pilot’s decision to fly the airplane without receiving any flight instruction in the airplane, which resulted in his failure to maintain sufficient airspeed during takeoff and the subsequent aerodynamic stall.
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On November 20, 2011, about 1328 central standard time, a Skykits Savannah VGW, N61XT, sustained substantial damage when it impacted the runway after takeoff from Runway 6 (2,400 feet by 28 feet, asphalt) at the Olson Airport (LL53), Plato Center, Illinois. The pilot, the sole occupant, received fatal injuries. The airplane was registered to the Northern Illinois Rotorcraft Club and was operated by the pilot as a personal flight under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. No flight plan was filed.
A witness reported that the pilot intended to depart from LL53 and land at an airstrip on the pilot's property, which was located about 3 nautical miles to the northwest. She reported that the pilot started the airplane near its hangar for about 10 to 15 minutes to warm up the engine. She stated that the engine quit, but the pilot started it again and began to taxi the airplane. The witness reported that she observed the pilot taxi the airplane to the west end of the runway, and then he taxied the length of the runway to the east. The pilot then taxied the airplane back to the west end of the runway before departing. The witness reported that the airplane became airborne and climbed to about the height of a nearby barn (about 50 feet above ground level) when the airplane's wings began to "wobble." She stated that the airplane's wings wobbled back and forth, and then the airplane turned left and nosed straight down. The airplane impacted the side of the asphalt runway and fell inverted on the south side of the runway.
PERSONNEL INFORMATION
The 69-year-old student pilot intended to obtain a sport pilot's certificate with a single-engine land rating. The pilot did not have a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) medical certificate, because as a sport pilot, a valid state driver's license was sufficient to indicate that the pilot was medically qualified to operate the airplane.
The student pilot's flight logbook was not obtained, but it was reported by a witness that the student pilot had a total of about 10 hours of flight time in airplanes. The witness reported that around 1990, the student pilot had obtained a student pilot certificate and received about 10 hours of flight instruction in a Cessna 172. FAA medical records indicated that the pilot did receive a third class medical and student pilot certificate in June 1990 and December 1992; however, there was no record of the pilot renewing the medical certificate or obtaining a private pilot's certificate.
Witnesses reported that the student pilot was an accomplished uncertificated ultra-light gyroplane pilot. He built and piloted numerous ultra-light gyroplanes for a number of years, but he did not obtain a FAA gyroplane pilot's certificate. The number of flight hours in ultra-light gyroplanes was not determined.
He purchased the airplane from Skykits Corporation on June 1, 2011. A flight instructor flew the airplane from the manufacturer's location in Tennessee, to Valparaiso, Indiana, on June 29, 2011. The flight instructor reported that he flew with the accident pilot on July 4, 2011, in the airplane for 0.4 hours. The accident pilot did not perform a takeoff or landing during that flight. According to the flight instructor, that was the only time the accident pilot flew in the accident airplane. The flight instructor delivered the airplane to LL53 on July 16, 2011. The flight instructor reported that he planned to provide flight instruction to the accident pilot, but that was delayed because the accident pilot did not receive his student sport's pilot certificate until September or October. He did not provide flight instruction in the accident airplane. The accident pilot did not have a logbook endorsement for solo flight in the accident airplane.
The flight instructor reported that the airplane had about 13 hours of operation when he delivered it to LL53. He stated that the accident pilot intended to taxi the airplane to become familiarized with the airplane.
AIRCRAFT INFORMATION
The airplane was a Skykits Savannah VGW light-sport airplane, serial number 10-03-51-905, manufactured in 2011. It seated two and had a maximum gross weight of 1,235 pounds. It was powered by a 115-horsepower Rotax 914UL2 engine, serial number 6774029. The airplane's recording hour meter reading at the accident site indicated 15 hours of operation on the engine and airframe since manufacture. The flight instructor who flew it from Tennessee to LL53 described the airplane as a "rocket ship," because of its performance with the 115 horsepower engine combined with the light weight of the airplane.
METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION
At 1252, the surface weather observation at DuPage Airport (DPA), West Chicago, Illinois, located about 11 nm southeast of LL53 was: wind 010 at 10 knots; visibility 10 miles; overcast 2,300 feet; temperature 6 degrees Celsius; dew point -1 degrees Celsius; altimeter 30.24 inches of mercury.
WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION
The airplane impacted the south edge of runway 6 about 1,560 feet from the approach end of the runway. The impact ground scars at the edge of the asphalt runway were about 10 feet from the inverted main wreckage. The right wingtip was crushed inboard and the entire leading edge of the right wing exhibited aft crushing. The nose and engine compartment were crushed aft. The left wing exhibited buckling along the entire span of the wing, but did not exhibit aft crushing of the leading edge. The fuselage behind the cabin was buckled. The empennage was intact, but had impact damage to the left and right side of the horizontal stabilizer and elevators. The ground scars and impact damage to the airplane were consistent with a steep nose down, right wing low attitude upon impact.
Flight control continuity was confirmed from the cockpit flight controls to the associated flight control surfaces.
The three-bladed propeller hub remained attached to the engine. However, two of the three composite blades were broken from the hub at the blade roots. The blade that remained attached to the hub had a partial fracture near the blade's midspan. One of the blades that separated from the hub was broken in two pieces. The separation of the blade was opposite the direction of travel, and the blade exhibited chordwise scratching. The other blade that separated from the hub exhibited a partial fracture of the blade opposite the direction of travel.
The engine remained intact and exhibited minimal impact damage. It was transported to the Poplar Grove Airport, Poplar Grove, Illinois, for an engine examination and engine run on a test stand.
MEDICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION
An autopsy of the pilot was performed at the Kane County Coroner's Office in Geneva, Illinois, on November 23, 2011. The "Cause of Death" was listed as multiple blunt force trauma resulting from an aircraft crash. A Forensic Toxicology Fatal Accident Report was prepared by the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute. The results were negative for carbon monoxide, cyanide, and ethanol. The following substances were identified in the toxicology report: chlorpheniramine detected in blood (heart); chlorpheniramine detected in urine; ephedrine detected in urine; ephedrine not detected in blood (heart); metoprolol detected in urine; metoprolol detected in blood (heart); pseudeoephidrine detected in urine; and pseudoephedrine detected in blood (heart).
Metoprolol is a prescription beta blocker used to treat high blood pressure and heart disease. Pseudoephedrine is a non-sedating over-the-counter decongestant found in various cold and allergy medications. Chlorpheniramine is a sedating antihistamine used to treat allergy and common cold symptoms. It is available over the counter under various trade names including Chlor-Trimeton and Chlortabs. Chlorpheniramine caries the warning – "may impair mental and/or physical ability required for the performance of potentially hazardous tasks (e.g., driving, operating heavy machinery)." The normal therapeutic range is from 0.0100 to 0.0400 ug/ml.
TESTS AND RESEARCH
The engine was examined at the Poplar Grove Airmotive engine shop. The engine compression was checked and the No. 1 cylinder had 80/80, No. 2 cylinder had 80/80, No. 3 cylinder had 78/80, and the No. 4 cylinder had 79/80. The engine was run on a test stand, and the engine operated normally from idle to full power.
The examination of the gearbox revealed that the vacuum drive gear made contact with the gearbox case when the propeller impacted the terrain. A series of circular scrapes and grooves were created in the gearbox that was consistent with the engine rotating at the time of impact.
The ROTAX TUR 113.0 turbo control unit (TCU) was downloaded at the Rotech Flight Safety facility in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. The downloaded data indicated that during the last time the engine was operating, 13 lines of data were recorded during the 13 minutes of engine operation recorded by the TCU. (The data is recorded at 1 minute intervals) The engine rpm recorded in the 13 lines of data ranged from a low of 2,865 rpm to a high of 4,194 rpm. The last line of recorded data indicated that the rpm was 3,841 rpm. The rpm typically produced using takeoff power is between 5,500 to 5,800 rpm. If power to the TCU is turned off prior to the one minute interval recording rate, the data stored during that partial minute will be lost.
http://registry.faa.gov/N61XT
NTSB Identification: CEN12FA073 14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, November 20, 2011 in Plato Center, IL
Aircraft: SKYKITS SAVANNAH VGW, registration: N61XT
Injuries: 1 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a significant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On November 20, 2011, about 1328 central standard time, a Skykits Savannah VGW, N61XT, sustained substantial damage when it impacted the runway after takeoff from runway 06 at the Olson Airport (LL53), Plato Center, Illinois. The pilot, the sole occupant, received fatal injuries. The airplane was registered to the Northern Illinois Rotorcraft Club and was operated by the pilot as a personal flight under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. No flight plan was filed.
A witness reported that the pilot intended to depart from LL53 and land at an airstrip on the pilot’s property which was located about 3 nautical miles to the northwest. She reported that the pilot started the airplane near its hangar for about 10 – 15 minutes to warm up the engine. She stated that the engine quit, but the pilot started it again and began to taxi the airplane. The witness reported that she observed the pilot taxi the airplane to the west end of the runway, and then he taxied the length of the runway to the east. The pilot then taxied the airplane back to the west end of the runway before departing. The witness reported that the airplane became airborne and climbed to about the height of a nearby barn (about 50 feet above ground level) when the airplane’s wings began to “wobble.” She stated that the airplane’s wings wobbled back and forth, and then the airplane turned left and nosed straight down. The airplane impacted the side of the asphalt runway and fell inverted on the south side of the runway.
At 1252, the surface weather observation at DuPage Airport (DPA), West Chicago, Illinois, located about 11 nm southeast of LL53 was: wind 010 at 10 knots; visibility 10 miles; overcast 2,300 feet; temperature 6 degrees Celsius; dew point -1 degrees Celsius; altimeter 30.24.
A 69-year-old Hampshire man who died Sunday when the small, single-engine aircraft he was piloting crashed upon takeoff from an airstrip west of Elgin had a passion for planes and flying.
Frank Kehoe was an avid pilot, with more than 1,000 hours logged, according to longtime friend Deborah Hill of Elgin.
Local and federal authorities are investigating the crash, the cause of which was not immediately known.
Authorities said Kehoe was flying an Experimental Skykits aircraft when it crashed about 1:30 p.m. under unknown circumstances at Olson Aviation near Plato Center. He was the only person aboard the plane as he attempted a takeoff from the one-runway private airport nestled between farms at 9N776 Kendall Road.
The plane crashed in an open field next to the runway, just east of Route 47, and landed upside down.
Jerry Swanson was outside his house across the street from the airport shortly before 1:30 p.m. Sunday when he saw the plane taxiing. He later heard a big crash and, with his 14-year-old son JJ, looked across the street to see Kehoe's plane upside down.
Swanson and his wife, Plato Township Supervisor Kathleen Swanson, hurried across the street and called 911. While they were waiting, they held the plane up to get pressure off Kehoe's head and body.
Pingree Grove emergency responders arrived in about five minutes, the Swansons said.
"They got here as quick as they could have," Kathleen Swanson said, but there was nothing anyone could do to help Kehoe.
Witnesses said that after takeoff, Kehoe's airplane only got as high as a barn next to the runway before the small aircraft started wobbling and then crashed. Kane County Sheriff's police did not know where Kehoe was flying to.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration will continue the accident investigation. The plane will be reconstructed and analyzed to figure out what caused the crash, but Aviation Safety Investigator Jim Silliman said it could take up to a year to come to a conclusion.
Silliman and others will inspect the plane itself, as well as analyze the maintenance records and research Kehoe's training and background as a pilot during the course of the investigation.
Hill said Kehoe owned several planes and flew regularly in his free time.
"That was his passion: Planes."
Officials say a 69-year-old Hampshire man is dead after a small airplane crashed as it attempted to take off near Elgin in unincorporated Kane County, officials said.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford confirms one person is dead. He says the single-engine experimental craft crashed under unknown circumstances at about 1:50 p.m. The tail number is N61XT, he said.
He says the FAA is investigating and did not immediately have further details.
Kane County sheriff's deputies are at the scene of the crash, which reportedly occurred at about 1:30 p.m., officials said.
The accident happened near the Olson Airport, 9N776 Kendall Rd., near Plato Center just west of Elgin, officials said. Officials said the plane was attempting to take off and crashed on the airport property for an unknown reason. It was not known where the plane was headed, police said.
While the crash remains under investigation, the only injury was to the sole occupant of the plane Frank J. Kehoe, of Hampshire who died in the crash, said Lt. Patrick Gengler, a spokesman for the Kane County Sheriff's Department. Officials described Kehoe as an experienced pilot.
The owners of the airport were not at the airport and did not have any information about the crash.
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