Event CEN12LA538

Factual narrative

On August 7, 2012, at 1945 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Starduster Too SA300, N111LC, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain during climbout from an aborted landing at Galion Municipal Airport (GQQ), Galion, Ohio. The pilot, the only person on board, was not injured. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan had not been filed for the local flight that departed GQQ. The pilot stated that the purpose of the flight was to run the engine and to practice landings. During an approach to GQQ, the descent to runway 23 (3,504 feet by 75 feet, asphalt) was "a little fast" and he added "a little power" on short final. After the airplane touched down with "some" crab angle, it turned "sharply" to the left. He applied engine power to execute an aborted landing during which the airplane was flying "slower" than he thought, and it would not climb. When the pilot lowered the nose to gain speed, he saw that the airplane was heading further south than he thought and was heading for the airport hangars. He turned the airplane left to avoid the hangars, but it was headed for a power line. He said that he used the remaining airspeed to climb over the power line, but the airplane stalled and impacted the ground. The landing gear collapsed and the airplane slid for about 100 feet on grass. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The pilot reported that there was no mechanical malfunction/failure with the airplane at the time of the accident. The pilot was issued a third class airman medical certificate dated June 9, 2010, with the following limitation: "Not valid for any class after 6/30/2012." The pilot lost directional control during the landing roll and attempted to abort the landing. However, the airplane would not climb and was flying slower than the pilot thought it should be flying, and the airplane was headed toward the airport hangars south of the runway. The pilot reduced the airplane pitch attitude in order to increase airspeed and turned left to avoid the hangars. The airplane stalled as the pilot attempted to climb the airplane over a power line that was along the flight path. During the aborted landing, the pilot did not fly over the remaining runway, which would have provided obstruction clearance to a safe altitude. Also, flight at slow or near stall speed provides a high drag condition, which results in reduced climb performance. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

• C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Directional control-Not attained/maintained - C
• C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Pitch control-Not attained/maintained - C
• C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Airspeed-Not attained/maintained - C
• C Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C