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NYC89LA220

1990-08-13 · MONTGOMERY, New York, United States · None · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport MGJ

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

THE PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE HOMEBUILT AIRPLANE WHILE PERFORMING INITIAL HIGH-SPEED TAXI TESTS. THE PILOT'S LACK OF FLIGHT EXPERIENCE IN THE ACCIDENT MAKE AND MODEL AIRPLANE WAS A RELATED FACTOR.

Factual narrative

AS PART OF THE INITIAL TESTING OF THE HOMEBUILT AIRPLANE, THE PILOT WAS PERFORMING REPEATED HIGH SPEED TAXI RUNS ON THE RUNWAY. ON THE EIGHTH OR NINTH RUN THE AIRPLANE BECAME AIRBORNE. THE PILOT STATED THAT THE AIRPLANE BANKED SHARPLY TO THE LEFT, AND WHEN HE REDUCED POWER TO TOUCH DOWN THE AIRPLANE SANK INTO THE GROUND ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE RUNWAY. THE PILOT COMPLETED BUILDING THE KIT AIRPLANE IN 1983. SINCE THAT TIME, HE HAD RUN THE ENGINE AND TAXIED THE AIRPLANE FOR 80 HOURS, BUT HAD NO FLIGHT EXPERIENCE IN THE MAKE AND MODEL AIRPLANE. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_NYC89LA220.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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