12 Aug 2012: Ison Aircraft Eros — Pilot

12 Aug 2012: Ison Aircraft Eros (N4007B) — Pilot

No fatalities • Schoolcraft, MI, United States

Probable cause

The operation of an airplane by a non-certificated pilot and his failure to maintain airplane control during the initial climb, which resulted in an uncontrolled decent.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On August 12, 2012, about 1730 eastern daylight time, an Ison Aircraft Eros, N4007B, impacted terrain during initial climb from a private field near Schoolcraft, Michigan, following a loss of control. The pilot did not hold a pilot certificate or an airman medical certificate. The pilot was uninjured. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The airplane registration was not updated to show that it had been purchased by the pilot who was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a flight plan had not been filed for the flight that was originating at the time of the accident.

According to a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector, the pilot had been flying ultralight aircraft prior to his purchase of the accident airplane. The pilot stated he had accumulated a total flight time of about 30 hours in ultralight aircraft. The pilot did not hold an airplane medical or pilot certificate at the time of the accident. The pilot stated that he departed from his backyard and was performing short hops when the wind banked the airplane to the left as it climbed over trees. The wind was from the left. The pilot recovered the airplane about 25 feet above ground level and landed on a corn field. The pilot said that there were no mechanical anomalies with the flight controls.

The FAA inspector stated that the airplane registration had not been transferred when the airplane was purchased by the pilot. The FAA asked the pilot to provide maintenance records for the airplane. Following the request, the FAA did not receive any of the records and was unable to establish if the airplane met aircraft inspection/maintenance requirements. The pilot then sold the airplane.

A National Transportation Safety Accident/Incident Report, 6120.1, was not received from the pilot.

Contributing factors

  • cause Performance/control parameters — Not attained/maintained
  • cause Pilot

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 270/07kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.