Aircraft: Kitfox Super Sport. Injuries: None. Location: Twin Bridges, Mont. Aircraft damage: Substantial.
What reportedly happened: The pilot purchased the airplane from the builder approximately four months before the accident. At the time of the accident, the pilot had logged about 16 hours in the Kitfox. The accident happened when he attempted to perform a full-flap soft-field takeoff for the first time.
As the airplane lifted off, it rolled abruptly to the right. Attempt to reagin control were unsuccessful. The right wing tip hit the ground, and the airplane cartwheeled, coming to rest pointing in the opposite direction of intended travel. The right wing and fuselage were substantially damaged.
The post-accident examination revealed that the flaperons were misrigged and that the difference in flaperon deflection was more extreme in the full flap position.
In the full flap position with a full left control deflection input, the right flaperon moved 3° more and the left flaperon 3° less than they would have if properly rigged. The asymmetric nature of the flaperon deflections induced an adverse yaws to the right despite the pilot’s corrective control inputs.
Examination of the airplane maintenance logbook revealed that the airplane builder performed the most recent annual airworthiness inspection 4-1/2 months before the accident.
Probable cause: The airplane builder’s failure to rig the flight controls correctly, which resulted in a loss of control after takeoff.
NTSB Identification: WPR13CA018
This October 2012 accident report is are provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Orrrr….his short field take-off was too sudden and steep and he flew out of his ground-effect before he had enough air-speed to carry him….causing loss of lift on the one wing and the subsequent tip drop.
This is one of the more interesting accident reports recently published by GA News. It highlights the importance of (a) a very thorough pre-flilght; (b) a healthy skepticism of work done by any maintenance person – regardless of their experience and ‘qualifications’, and (c) the need to be very attentive to unusual flight characteristics in any aircraft we fly. In some ways this is similar to the 2012 accident involving a Pilaggio 108 where maintenance failure to properly torque elevator attach bolts resulted in loss of one elevator. In that instance, like this one, the maintenance personnel attempted to obscure or obfuscate their failure of due diligence. On http://www.ntsb.gov aviation data base see: WPR12FA332. Some of the documents in the NTSB docket are especially telling. In this Kitfox accident the builder clearly manipulated the purchase process by limiting time available for a pre-purchase inspection, then by declining to allow certain maneuvers (stalls) during the pre-purchase flight.