NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ERA10LA119
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The non-certificated pilot's failure to maintain airspeed which resulted in an inadvertent stall and subsequent impact with the ground. Contributing to the accident was his impairment due to the prescription narcotic medication he was taking.
Factual narrative
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On January 14, 2010, about 1430 eastern standard time, an unregistered, amateur-built experimental light sport aircraft, Quad City Challenger II, impacted the ground near Airport Manatee (48X), Palmetto, Florida. The student pilot was fatally injured and the airplane was substantially damaged by impact forces and a post crash fire. The flight was operated as a personal flight under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91, and no flight plan was filed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. According to the owner of the unregistered airplane and several eyewitnesses, the pilot was contemplating purchasing the airplane and was going to taxi the airplane around the airport. The owner reported to the NTSB investigator in a phone interview that the accident pilot owned an airplane and they talked about trading airplanes. He heard the engine of the airplane "revving" and then observed the airplane "going in a circle." After the airplane went behind a row of trees he heard the engine surge followed by observing rising smoke from the area. One eyewitness heard the owner inform the pilot "not to go up because of the wind." A short time later, the witness heard the airplane's engine "rev up" and then saw the airplane climb out and turn in order to remain in the airport traffic pattern. He watched the airplane on the downwind leg make a turn as if toward the airport; however, the airplane appeared to have a "fairly steep bank." He then heard the engine "rev up" and then become quiet. Another eyewitness located south of the airport observed the airplane from behind and reported that the "wings were perpendicular to the ground," then the nose of the airplane "did a quick dive." The eyewitness lost sight of the airplane behind some trees, and then saw smoke.
PERSONNEL INFORMATION
A search of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airman database revealed that the pilot held a student pilot certificate/third class medical issued in June 2004. No other certificates or ratings were located by the FAA. No logbooks or other flight records for the pilot were located; however, family members reported to the FAA that the pilot had been flying airplanes for several years.
AIRCRAFT INFORMATION
The experimental amateur-built Quad City Challenger II was a two-seat, high-wing, pusher configuration with a primary structure that consisted of fabric-covered metal tubing, fixed gear with floats airplane. It was assembled by the owner approximately 2 months prior to the accident. The engine was mounted above and aft of the cockpit. It was powered by a Rotax 582 engine and equipped with a three-bladed propeller. The airplane was unregistered and uncertificated at the time of the accident and no aircraft logbooks have been made available for review.
METEOROLOGICAL INFORMATION
The 1453 surface weather observation at Albert Whitted Airport (SPG), St. Petersburg, Florida, located approximately 10 miles northwest of the accident location, included calm winds, visibility 10 miles, clear skies, temperature 19 degrees C, dew point 7 degrees C, and an altimeter setting of 30.18 inches of mercury.
WRECKAGE AND IMPACT INFORMATION
According to the FAA inspector that arrived on scene, the airplane had sustained post-impact fire damage. The airplane was in a nose down attitude at the time of impact and was partially embedded into the ground. The accident location was approximately one-half mile south of the airport in a ditch near an open field. Flight control continuity was established; however, due to thermal damage was unable to be verified.
MEDICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL INFORMATION
The District Twelve Medical Examiner in Sarasota, Florida, performed an autopsy on the pilot. The autopsy report indicated the cause of death was "…blunt impact…" The FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute performed toxicology on specimens from the pilot. The report stated that 27.608 ug/ml Norpropoxyphene was detected in the urine, 3.709 ug/ml Norpropoxyphene was detected in the blood, 0.825 ug/ml Propoxyphene was detected in the blood, and 0.629 ug/ml Propoxyphene was detected in the urine. No carbonmonoxide, cyanide, or ethanol was detected. The autopsy report on the pilot noted hepatitis C infection, and the microscopic examination of the liver indicated "early bridging fibrosis and steatosis with fatty vacuoles occupying 15 % of the cross-sectional area. The portal tracts have mild chronic inflammatory cell infiltrates." The medical examiner’s office noted that blood submitted for toxicology testing was "chest cavity" blood. According to the owner of the experimental amateur-built light sport airplane, the non-certificated accident pilot was planning to only taxi the airplane and not get airborne due to the wind conditions. The owner and several witnesses observed the airplane depart the runway and fly the prescribed runway traffic pattern. While on the base leg, the airplane began a steep bank with the nose entering a dive. The airplane subsequently impacted the ground behind a row of trees, with the engine continuing to operate at high power until ground impact. Postmortem toxicology testing was consistent with recent use of an impairing prescription narcotic medication, although the source of blood tested made it impossible to accurately estimate the time of the most recent use or the likelihood of impairment. The autopsy revealed that the pilot had an active hepatitis C infection with early evidence of liver cirrhosis. It is possible that the pilot was impaired by his recent narcotic use, by symptoms of chronic active hepatitis C infection, or by some other condition for which he was taking the prescription narcotic medication. 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 Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
- C Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-(general)-Not attained/maintained - C
- F Personnel issues-Experience/knowledge-Experience/qualifications-Qualification/certification-Pilot - F
- F Personnel issues-Experience/knowledge-Experience/qualifications-Total experience w/ equipment-Pilot - F
- F Personnel issues-Physical-Impairment/incapacitation-Prescription medication-Pilot - F
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2010_ERA10LA119.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2001 · Journal article (JAAER)
Professional Ethics in Engineering: The Challenger and Corporate Culture
Ethics in engineering is an important issue that affects the daily lives of almost everyone in the world. Because engineers and related scientists design, develop, and manufacture the many products th…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2015 · Journal article (IJAAA)
Enhancing Quality Assurance using Virtual Design Engineering: Case Study of Space Shuttle Challenger
Virtual Design Engineering is an emerging method of increasing quality of systems. Including Virtual Design as a part of the traditional established Failure Mode, Effects, and Criticality Analysis pro…
- 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 …
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Automating Bird Diverter Installation through Multi-Aerial Robots and Signal Temporal Logic Specifications
This paper tackles the task assignment and trajectory generation problem for bird diverter installation using a fleet of multi-rotors.
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Variation of Critical Crystallization Pressure for the Formation of Square Ice in Graphene Nanocapillaries
Two-dimensional square ice in graphene nanocapillaries at room temperature is a fascinating phenomenon and has been confirmed experimentally.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Polycrystallinity enhances stress build-up around ice
Damage caused by freezing wet, porous materials is a widespread problem, but is hard to predict or control. Here, we show that polycrystallinity makes a great difference to the stress build-up process…
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