Wejebe Jose CA8 -SF accident near Everglades City, FL
On April 6, 2012, a Wejebe Jose CA8 -SF (airplane) was involved in an accident near Everglades City, FL. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- April 6, 2012
- Place
- Everglades City, FL
- Aircraft
- Wejebe Jose CA8 -SF · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 25.853°N, 81.390°W
- NTSB ID
- 20120406X84844
Official records · ERA12FA271
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On April 6, 2012, at 1645 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Comp Air 8 CA8-SF, N548SF, was substantially damaged when it impacted the ground shortly after takeoff from Everglades Airpark (X01), Everglades City, Florida. The certificated private pilot was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the flight which was destined for Merritt Island Airport (COI), Merritt Island, Florida. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The pilot was a professional fisherman who produced his own fishing show. According to interviews with the pilot’s family and friends, he had flown into Everglades Airpark earlier in the week to film the show. The pilot’s cameraman reported to local law enforcement that they did some filming on the day of the accident, and then he drove the pilot to the airport for his return flight to COI. The cameraman observed the pilot perform a preflight inspection on the airplane, and then walk toward the airport operations building to pay his parking fee. At that point, the cameraman left the airport, and therefore did not observe the takeoff. A witness observed the airplane depart from runway 33 and make a sharp right turn at an altitude of about 100 to 150 feet. The airplane became almost inverted, with the right wing down, before it rolled back toward a level attitude. The nose remained in a nose-down attitude and the airplane banked to the left before impacting the ground in a 10-15 degree left-wing-low attitude.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain sufficient airspeed during the initial climb after takeoff, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and loss of airplane control.
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Browse: Florida
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
