Accident Overview
On November 8, 2009, at 1122 Central Standard Time, a Moore Skybolt, registration N6644, was destroyed when it impacted terrain shortly after taking off from Quartz Mountain Airport (AXS) in Altus, Oklahoma. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The personal flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91 without a flight plan. The pilot and passenger were fatally injured. The flight originated at approximately 1119.
Witness Accounts
The father of the 17-year-old passenger observed the takeoff. He estimated that when the pilot was about 50 feet above the ground, he started an aggressive climb at a 45-degree angle, then the aircraft banked hard to the right. He noted the airplane appeared to be in a vertical climb, followed by a wing-over maneuver. After that, the plane was in a nose dive towards the ground, with wings going back and forth. He saw smoke immediately after losing sight.
Another witness, whose wife had been a passenger on a previous flight, estimated the pilot at 25 feet above ground performing left and right turns. He observed a right turn, then the nose went down, with a wobble or possible spin or flutter in the tail.
A third witness said the airplane lifted off, did a steep turn at midfield, climbed and departed west. He later saw the airplane return and make a wing-over type maneuver to the east in a descending turn, then heard impact.
The airport's line chief reported that on the second flight, he saw the pilot perform a high-speed low pass about half a wing length off the ground, waving wings, then a vertical climb out and steep bank of at least 60 degrees before departing north.
A pilot based at the airport noted the accident aircraft took off on runway 17, at about 100 feet did a right turn and departed west at about the same altitude, with a bank angle well in excess of 60 degrees. He had previously observed the pilot doing non-standard maneuvers including steep turns at low altitude and low passes with steep climbs.
Pilot Experience and Logbook
A portion of the pilot's logbook from November 12, 2005, to October 24, 2009, indicated a total of 419.7 hours, with 73.0 hours in tailwheel airplanes (all in the Skybolt). Of that, 50.0 hours were listed as year-to-date between October 20, 2007, and January 12, 2008, but not specified as dual, solo, or pilot-in-command. The remaining 23.0 hours of Skybolt time included 12.7 hours of dual instruction and 10.3 hours of pilot-in-command.
Aerobatic entries were limited: November 14, 2005 (dual, signed) - tailwheel introduction, loops, rolls, hammerheads, stalls; July 26, 2008 (dual, unsigned) - aileron rolls; February 25, 2009 (dual, unsigned) - lazy eights.
The pilot's last biennial flight review was June 5, 2009, covering stalls, steep turns, S-turns, turns on a point, landing attitude demonstration, emergency procedures, and lazy eights. A "first solo" entry was made June 15, 2009, and a "4th air show" entry on July 14, 2009.
Additional Information
Airport officials were unaware of the pilot performing low-level maneuvers in the traffic pattern. No complaints had been received by FAA Flight Standards District Offices in Oklahoma City or Lubbock.
Autopsy reports attributed deaths to multiple blunt force trauma. No carbon monoxide was detected in either victim; no ethyl alcohol or cyanide was detected in the pilot.