Incident Overview
On August 12, 2006, a pilot conducted a flight from Manatee Airport, departing from runway 7. According to the pilot's statement, after takeoff he performed a climbing right turn to establish a 45-degree heading change to the right. Upon reaching 200 feet above ground level, he initiated a descending left turn to 225 degrees with the intention of reversing course to align with runway 25.
Loss of Control
During the descending left turn, the pilot reported that the airplane became unresponsive about the roll axis. The aircraft continued its descent in a nose-low, left-wing-low attitude. In an attempt to arrest the rate of descent, the pilot applied full right aileron, full up elevator, and full right rudder control inputs. Despite these inputs, the airplane continued descending and impacted the ground in a slight left-wing-low, nose-low attitude.
Post-Accident Examination
An Federal Aviation Administration inspector conducted a post-accident examination of the airplane on August 12, 2006. The examination revealed no preaccident anomalies or mechanical malfunctions that would have contributed to the loss of control.