The pilot reported that while attempting a “jump” takeoff, which he had only practiced with an instructor two years prior, the CubCrafters CCX-2300 assumed a nose-high attitude and turned sharply to the left.
He pushed the stick forward and used rudder and ailerons to straighten the airplane, but his attempt to decrease the angle of attack was unsuccessful.
He then retracted the flaps to “lower the nose,” and the airplane descended and hit the top of a hangar at the airport in Spanish Fork, Utah, which resulted in substantial damage to the fuselage and wings.
Probable Cause: The pilot’s decision to attempt an unfamiliar takeoff technique, his failure to maintain pitch control during takeoff, and his subsequent decision to retract flaps at a low altitude, which resulted in a descent into a building.
To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device.
This May 2023 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.
For those wondering what in the world a “jump takeoff” is, this is a very aggressive short-field technique made famous by Maule demo pilots where you hold the brakes, go full throttle, lift the tail up, accelerate, then drop flaps and rotate to around 40 degrees nose up. Some planes were capable of this, others not.
A dash cam video shows why it crashed. The uncoordinated takeoff with cross wind is what led to the the crash. https://youtu.be/5kOV3ROhvC8?si=JEElpxpV7fJLszG5
I sure hope no insurance company covers this. Bad pilot bozos drive up our insurance premiums.
flying a trike gear cub, raising the flaps to prevent stall…. Well crapolla…. Who coulda guessed the pilot would be behind the plane….
It’s a terrible thing to do things one is not qualified to do.. I always tried to be professional when flying. Things can sneak up an bite you in the cheeks!!
Good grief………….
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
That’s right.
After reading the pilot’s description of what happened and his reasoning, I have to wonder how he got to nearly a thousand hours of flight time without having other accidents or incidents. He truly lacked basic airmanship skills. Yet he was type rated in a Vision Jet and had accumulated enough time in other airplanes that he should have known better than to do what he did. Some folks shouldn’t be pilots.
I’m sure they’ll blame the person who put the hangar in the way.
Lol, probably so.
What a waste of a nice aircraft! AVEMCO must love this guy!
If he wanted to take off like a Zenith, he should have bought one!
What’s a jump takeoff?
He successfully lowered the nose by retracting the flaps.
LOL!!!!!!!!!!
Here, hold my beer!
Retract flaps at low altitude.. Who is taught you that? Bad idea! Idiot!
Whats a jump takeoff
Thank GOD he survived !!! Wow !
Totaly non standard and unnecessary SHOW BOATING !!!
As well and even more dangerous is the hanging on the prop well below a safe 1.3 VSO approach this segment of G.A. promotes to making short field landing events.
A DPE would (hopefully) never approve such approaches for a Private Pilot license !?
But here we are today as an industry promoting this dangerous activity, as we would street racing to our teenagers learning to drive, or doing wheelies on their motorcycles.
While one would never wish to restrict an Americans right to risky behavior, perhaps warning labels should be attached to unsafe, non standard events and operations ?
We CFI’S and the G.A. industry has a difficult enough time keeping our pilots current.
Cheers to all
60+ yr [email protected]
RRF
You mean…kinda like half the crazy flying
s—t being posted in social media…?
What could possibly go wrong? 🙂
More money doesn’t equal more brains.
Generally inversely proportional