Vertical Unlimited Llc 12 accident near Kansas City, MO
On August 20, 2011, a Vertical Unlimited Llc 12 (airplane) was involved in an accident near Kansas City, MO. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- August 20, 2011
- Place
- Kansas City, MO
- Aircraft
- Vertical Unlimited Llc 12 · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 39.123°N, 94.593°W
- NTSB ID
- 20110822X11656
Official records · CEN11LA582
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On August 20, 2011, at 1341 central daylight time, a Vertical Unlimited LLC model 12 airplane, N2BJ, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain at the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC), Kansas City, Missouri. The pilot was performing an aerobatic routine at the Kansas City Aviation Expo at the time of the accident. The pilot was fatally injured. The airplane was registered to Vertical Unlimited LLC and operated by the pilot. The aerobatic exhibition (air show) flight was being conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 and a Certificate of Waiver issued for the air show. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight, which was not operated on a flight plan. The local exhibition flight originated from MKC about 1336. The air show performance appeared to proceed normally until shortly before the accident. A review of video footage of the final portion of the accident routine indicated that the pilot appeared to have exited a Lomcevak maneuver into a right, inverted spin. Upon recovery from the inverted spin, as the airplane began to pitch up from a nose-down attitude, it rolled to the left and the nose dropped. The airplane appeared to yaw to the left (counterclockwise) during the final descent, completing about one and one-half revolutions before impacting the ground. The resolution of the video did not permit any assessment of flight control surface deflections. A series of six photographs taken at approximately one-second intervals immediately before the accident depicted the airplane in a nose low
Probable cause
The pilot's impairment during an aerobatic airshow performance for reasons that could not be determined based on available information, which resulted in an in-flight loss of airplane control.
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Browse: Missouri
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
