Kitfox Kitfox accident near Lander, WY
On June 7, 2020, a Kitfox Kitfox (airplane) was involved in an accident near Lander, WY. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- June 7, 2020
- Place
- Lander, WY
- Aircraft
- Kitfox Kitfox · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 42.705°N, 108.882°W
- NTSB ID
- 20200607X35655
Official records · WPR20LA170
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn June 7, 2020, about 0830 mountain daylight time, an experimental, amateur built Kitfox 1 airplane, N595KF, was destroyed when it was involved in an accident near Lander, Wyoming. The pilot was seriously injured, and the passenger was fatally injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. According to the pilot, he had transported the airplane by trailer from his home in Washington State to Wyoming to see friends and landmarks. The night before the accident, he checked the weather conditions and determined that high winds and turbulent conditions were forecasted for around noon the following day. On the morning of the accident, he moved the airplane to Hunt Field (LND), Lander, Wyoming, with a friend and unloaded the airplane from its trailer at 0700. After he verified no significant changes in the forecasted weather conditions, the pilot performed a preflight inspection of the airplane, gave his passenger a safety briefing and then departed uneventfully from LND, which is at a field elevation of 5,588 ft mean sea level (msl) about 0730. The pilot reported that he flew near a cell phone tower that was located about 14 nm south of LND and then turned northwest towards Frye Lake, which was about 10 nm from the tower at an elevation of about 8,500 ft msl. He further stated that the airplane had been in a constant climb for most of the flight due to the high altitude. When they arrived at the lake, he flew northeast of the water and then decided to descend to 500 ft above ground level (agl) and fly over t
Probable cause
The inexperienced pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle-of-attack during a turn at high density altitude, which resulted in an accelerated stall and impact with water. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s poor judgment to continue the flight despite the airplane’s limited performance during the accident flight.
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Browse: Wyoming
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
