Quad City CHALLENGER accident near Wurtsboro, NY
On June 5, 2020, a Quad City CHALLENGER (airplane) was involved in an accident near Wurtsboro, NY. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- June 5, 2020
- Place
- Wurtsboro, NY
- Aircraft
- Quad City CHALLENGER · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 41.595°N, 74.456°W
- NTSB ID
- 20200605X25035
Official records · ERA20LA207
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
On June 5, 2020, about 1925 eastern daylight time, an experimental, amateur-built Challenger II airplane, N850RW, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Wurtsboro-Sullivan County Airport (N82), Wurtsboro, New York. The pilot and student pilot were fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 test flight. According to a witness, the airplane was tail heavy, therefore the pilot/owner and student pilot had added ballast to the front of the airplane and performed several high-speed taxi runs prior to departing N82 for a test flight. After liftoff, the airplane began to yaw to the left and continued to yaw left toward a ridgeline. The airplane did not climb and remained just above the treetops. It then sounded to the witness as though the pilot pulled back the power before the witness lost sight of it over the trees and heard the impact. Inspection of the accident site by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed the airplane descended nose first into the trees, came to rest mostly intact, and inverted in a wooded area about 1,420 ft and 143° from the airport center. All major structural components of the airplane were located within a debris field limited to the size of the airplane. Both wings were substantially damaged, and the right wing was mostly impact separated at the wing root. The empennage remained mostly undamaged. There was a faint smell of fuel at the accident site. The airplane, engine, and engine accessories were examined under the supervision of an FAA inspector after re
Probable cause
A loss of control after takeoff due to the pilot’s improper use of ballast weight. Contributing was the pilot’s decision to operate the airplane above its maximum gross weight.
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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.
