Northwing 17 accident near Section, AL

On July 9, 2018, a Northwing 17 was involved in an accident near Section, AL. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.

Date

July 9, 2018

Place

Section, AL

Aircraft

Northwing 17 · WSFT

Injuries

1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor

Damage

Substantial

Position

34.522°N, 85.986°W

NTSB ID

20180710X03854

Official records · ERA18LA188

• Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation

NTSB summary

On July 9, 2018, about 1845 central daylight time, an experimental light sport Northwing 17-M weight-shift-control trike, N959RR, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Section, Alabama. The noncertificated pilot was fatally injured. The aircraft was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.The pilot's wife reported that the pilot purchased the aircraft about 1 month before the accident. The pilot told her that he had owned a similar aircraft about 25 years prior. She was unable to provide any additional details about the pilot's ownership history or flight experience but stated that he had flown it at least once with the previous owner and was planning to take flight lessons in the future from a local pilot. The accident flight was the first time he had operated the aircraft after purchasing it. On the day before the accident, the pilot asked his neighbor if he could mow a grass runway into the property behind the residences and subsequently mowed a 45-ft by 650-ft strip in an east/west direction. On the day of the accident, the pilot asked his wife if she wanted to watch him taxi the aircraft; she did not realize he was going to fly it. At 1830, she saw him taxi back and forth a few times on the runway, then he taxied to the west end of the runway, turned toward the east, increased engine power, and took off. There were no apparent anomalies with the aircraft during takeoff. The pilot climbed the aircraft on a southeasterly heading before flying around the house five or six times. About 10 minutes later, the pi

Probable cause

The noncertificated pilot's failure to maintain control of the weight-shift-control aircraft during an aborted landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's lack of flight experience in the aircraft.

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Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.