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Atlas / NTSB / SEA90FA080

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event SEA90FA080

1990-05-20 COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho, United States Airport · COE Fatal 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N161RS

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

KITFOX KITFOX SUPER SPORT

Year of manufacture

2016

Engine

LYCOMING YO-233 (115 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20160908

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A0F6ED

Registrant of record

WILMINGTON TRUST CO TRUSTEE

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

INADEQUATE COORDINATION BETWEEN THE PILOT AND THE GROUND LINEMAN. A FACTOR RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: IMPAIRMENT OF THE GROUND LINEMAN FROM CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL.

Factual narrative

THE ASSISTANCE OF A GROUND LINEMAN WAS OBTAINED TO CONNECT AN EXTERNAL POWER UNIT. AFTER THE ENGINES WERE STARTED, THE LINEMAN DISCONNECTED THE POWER UNIT. THE PILOT NOTED THE DISCONNECT AND COMPLETED THE CHECKLIST. WHEN HE LOOKED UP TO FIND THE LINEMAN, HE SAW AN INDIVIDUAL WALKING AWAY FROM HIS AIRPLANE AND ASSUMED THAT IT WAS THE LINEMAN THAT HAD BEEN ASSISTING HIM. THE PILOT RELEASED THE BRAKES AND STARTED FORWARD MOVEMENT OF THE AIRPLANE. THE LINEMAN, HOWEVER, WAS STILL NEXT TO THE AIRPLANE AT THE EXTERNAL POWER RECEPTACLE, WHICH WAS LOCATED ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE NOSE IN FRONT OF THE PROPELLER. THE LINEMAN AND POWER UNIT WERE STRUCK BY THE RIGHT PROPELLER. A TOXICOLOGY CHECK OF THE LINEMAN'S BLOOD SHOWED IT HAD AN ALCOHOL LEVEL OF 0.037%. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1990_SEA90FA080.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.