Accident Overview
On June 23, 2010, at 1006 mountain daylight time, a Rice KR-2 experimental amateur-built airplane, registration N44729, sustained substantial damage during a forced landing following a loss of engine power on takeoff from Richfield Municipal Airport (RIF), Richfield, Utah. The private pilot, the sole occupant, was seriously injured. The airplane was being operated under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 for an inaugural personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed.
Flight History
According to several witnesses, the pilot had recently purchased the airplane and brought it to Richfield by trailer. A resident mechanic performed a condition inspection on the aircraft, and the maintenance records were signed off on June 23, 2010. The pilot conducted several long static engine runs on the ground and then planned to perform high-speed taxi runs on the 6,600-foot-long runway (elevation 5,301 feet; density altitude 6,706 feet).
The pilot performed his first high-speed taxi on runway 19. He became airborne but immediately set the airplane down and came to a stop. He reversed course and performed a second high-speed taxi, with a tail wind, on runway 01. This time, when the airplane became airborne, the pilot reported that he ran out of runway and decided to fly it around the pattern. A witness reported that the initial pitch up appeared "excessive."
The pilot reported that at about 250 feet, the engine began to lose power and the airplane was descending. He turned back towards the runway's midpoint to land on runway 19, when the right wing suddenly dropped and impacted the airport's perimeter fence. Upon impacting terrain, the pilot was thrown from the airplane and came to rest approximately 50 feet beyond the wreckage. The aircraft came to rest inverted with its engine broken off and under the fuselage. The left wing was broken at the wing root but not separated from the fuselage.
Aircraft and Engine Details
The two-place, side-by-side airplane was built in 1985 and was powered by a Volkswagen engine. The engine had a redundant ignition system: half was electronic and half was a magneto. Fuel was introduced by a slide-type carburetor. Records indicate that the airplane was first flown on November 10, 1995. The first pilot to fly it reported that it was "pitch sensitive" and easy to over control, and that it required constant left rudder pressure while in flight. The airplane had approximately 150 flight hours at the time of the accident.
The pilot described the airplane as "short coupled" and "squirrelly" to handle on the ground. He stated that when he first got airborne it ran "decent," but at an altitude of about 250 feet agl, the engine began losing power. He thought it was running rich because the engine's rpm dropped from 4,000 to about 2,000.
Postaccident Examination
A postaccident examination of the engine by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector and the resident mechanic found the carburetor to be "very gummed up and did not operate freely." Additionally, the spark plugs appeared to have excessive carbon. During the examination, no preimpact mechanical anomalies were found other than the condition of the carburetor and spark plugs.