Lancair Lancair 360 accident near Charleston, SC
On April 24, 2006, a Lancair Lancair 360 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Charleston, SC. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- April 24, 2006
- Place
- Charleston, SC
- Aircraft
- Lancair Lancair 360 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 32.892°N, 79.776°W
- NTSB ID
- 20060508X00520
Official records · ATL06LA070
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On April 24, 2006, at 1145 eastern daylight time, an experimental Lancair 360, N9GX, registered to and operated by a private individual, as a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, lost power and collided with the ground shortly after takeoff from the East Cooper Airport, Charleston, South Carolina. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and no flight plan was filed. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces, and the commercial-rated pilot was fatally injured. The flight was originating from East Cooper Airport at the time of the accident. In a statement provided to an FAA inspector, a witness stated that he observed the aircraft make two low passes over runway 17. He also stated that the engine sounded like it was running smoothly but quietly. On a third pass, the pilot raised the landing gear and started to climb. He began a normal left turn to crosswind. The witness stated that he might have looked away for a second, and "when I looked back, the wings had rotated to what appeared to be almost a 90-degree bank." The witness also said that, " the nose of the aircraft dropped to almost vertical, the aircraft dove into the ground, but I did not observe any fire or smoke." The pilots wife stated that her husband went to the airport to practice touch and go landings. Witnesses at the airport reported seeing the airplane conducting touch and go landings prior to the accident. They reported that the airplane departed from runway 17, entered a high bank angle and "just fell out of the sky." The Charleston County Aviation Authority res
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain sufficient airspeed during a climb to preclude a stall, which resulted in a loss of control and an in-flight collision with terrain. A factor associated with the accident was an inadvertent stall.
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Browse: South Carolina · Lancair aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
