DFW05LA053
2005-01-10 · Cleveland, Oklahoma, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport 95F
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The pilot's failure to maintain control and sufficient airspeed while performing an abrupt pull-up manuever after takeoff, which resulted in an inadvertent stall/spin.
Factual narrative
On January 10, 2005, approximately 1650 central standard time, a Myers Kit Fox Series VI homebuilt-experimental airplane, N982KF, registered to and operated by a private individual, was substantially damaged during impact with terrain following a loss of control after takeoff from the Cleveland Municipal Airport (95F), near Cleveland, Oklahoma. The private pilot, who was the sole occupant of the airplane, was seriously injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan was not filed for the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The flight originated from the Westport Airpark (4F1), near Tulsa, Oklahoma, at 1615. According to witnesses near the airport, the airplane was observed performing touch and go landings on runway 18 at 95F. One witness, who was located on airport property, observed the airplane flying "very low" to the ground at a "high rate of speed" (in ground effect) parallel to the runway. The witness added that as the airplane reached the end of the runway, it "climbed steeply," started a left turn, and "spun" nose first into the ground. There was no post-impact fire. In a written statement, the 389-hour private pilot reported that he did "not have any recollection of the accident due to a head injury and/or medications." Data provided by the pilot revealed that he had accumulated a total of 27 hours in the same make and model aircraft. An FAA inspector, who examined the wreckage at the accident site, reported that the horizontal stabilator and electric trim for pitch control did not exhibit pre-impact anomalies. Additionally, a check of flight control cable continuity did not reveal any abnormalities other than impact damage. Structural damage to the left wing and cabin area was observed. At 1650, the automated weather observing system at the Richard Lloyd Jones Jr. Airport (RVS), located approximately 27 miles southeast of the accident site, reported wind from 210 degrees at 7 knots, 10 statute miles visibility, few clouds at 28,000 feet, temperature 66 degrees Fahrenheit, dew point 57 degrees Fahrenheit, and a barometric pressure setting of 29.87 inches of Mercury. The home-built experimental airplane was performing touch and go landings. One witness, who was located on airport property, observed the airplane flying "very low" to the ground at a "high rate of speed" (in ground effect) parallel to the runway. As the airplane reached the end of the runway, it "climbed steeply," started a left turn, and "spun" nose first into the ground. In a written statement, the 389-hour private pilot reported that he did "not have any recollection of the accident due to a head injury and/or medications." An FAA inspector, who examined the wreckage at the accident site, reported that the horizontal stabilator and electric trim for pitch control did not exhibit pre-impact anomalies. Additionally, a check of flight control cable continuity did not reveal abnormalities other than impact damage. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2005_DFW05LA053.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall, loss of control). All research papers
- Semantic Scholar 2016 · Article (Interacción) Trajectory Recovery System: Angle of Attack Guidance for Inflight Loss of Control
This paper describes the design and development of an ecological display to aid pilots in the recovery of an In-Flight Loss of Control event due to a Stall (ILOC-S).
- NTSB Aircraft Accident Reports 2010 · Accident report Loss of Control on Approach — Colgan Air Flight 3407
Colgan Air 3407 / Continental Connection (Q400) Buffalo NY, February 12, 2009 — 50 fatalities. Definitive investigation of the Colgan 3407 stall-stick-pusher crash on approach to Buffalo.
- NASA NTRS 2026 · Conference Paper Computational Analysis of Steady State Aerodynamics of Transonic Truss-Braced Wing Configuration in Deep Stall
This study presents a computational investigation of steady state aerodynamics of the Subsonic Ultra-Green Aircraft Research (SUGAR) Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) configuration over a wide range …
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER) A Scoping Review of Aviation Loss of Control Inflight Research
Loss of control – inflight (LOC-I) contributes to aircraft accidents at unacceptably high rates. Significant industry efforts and research have aimed to improve LOC-I prevention, detection, and recove…
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2024 · SKYbrary article Loss of Control In-Flight (LOC-I) — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary comprehensive knowledge-base entry on Loss of Control In-Flight — definitions, contributing factors, accident case studies (Air France 447, Colgan 3407), and prevention strategies.
- Semantic Scholar 2024 · Article (International Conference on Networking and Services) Risk Assessment of Loss of Control In-Flight Trajectories for Urban Air Mobility Safety
In Urban Air Mobility (UAM), maintaining a minimum separation between aircraft is a safety requirement, which becomes challenging amidst congested air traffic and off-nominal conditions, such as Loss …