The pilot reported that, during a familiarization flight in an American Spitfire II ultralight, he took off and “noticed a strong left turning tendency.”
He added that he “kept the power at a higher, time restricted setting,” which resulted in the coolant temperature rising above the 180°F maximum operating temperature.
Although there were no indications of performance degradation, he “became concerned” that the airplane could lose engine power due to overheating and decided to make a precautionary landing.
During the landing near Camarillo, California, the airplane bounced, and he decided to go around.
Subsequently, the airplane hit a hangar roof about 75′ left of the runway centerline and then came to rest on the opposite side of the hangar.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage.
Probable cause: The pilot’s failure to track the runway centerline during an attempted go-around, which resulted in hitting a hangar.
NTSB Identification: GAA18CA002
This October 2017 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Even if you have tons of flying time, an ultralight is a whole different beast. Low entry price and experience level probably lures folks that should have taken the longer, more involved route to getting airborne.
The NTSB report says he was a 51 yo sport pilot with 115 total hours. He simply did not have enough experience to deal with what in his mind was a crises (not clear it was a crises). So he panicked, bounced a hurried landing, took off again and really got disoriented missing the center-line by 75 feet and hitting the hangar. This guy should seriously consider not going back up alone…and doing a bunch of emergency procedures and short final landings.