History of Flight
On April 14, 2013, at about 0815 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Kit Fox IV 1200, registration N117S, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain while attempting to land at Treasure Coast Airpark (FL37), Port St. Lucie, Florida. The private pilot was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local personal flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
Several witnesses observed portions of the flight. The airplane took off from runway 27, turned north, then circled back to a left downwind for landing on the same runway. One witness, also a pilot, noted that during the downwind leg, the airplane was "very close in" to the runway and was seen "popping through clouds" until obstructed by a house. Another witness reported that as the airplane turned toward final approach, the nose dropped and the airplane headed "straight down" before disappearing behind trees. Multiple witnesses heard the engine operating at high power without anomalies.
Personnel Information
The pilot, aged 62, held a private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land rating and an experimental aircraft builder repairman certificate. The latest FAA third-class medical certificate was issued on February 13, 2012. The pilot's logbook indicated 691 total flight hours as of February 10, 2013, with about 570 hours in the accident airplane make and model. A separate pad found with the wreckage recorded an additional 1.2 hours, with the last flight on April 7, 2013.
Aircraft Information
The single-engine, conventional landing gear (taildragger) airplane was powered by a Rotax 912 engine. According to the maintenance logbook, the pilot completed the latest condition inspection on September 7 at a Hobbs time of 506.0 hours. The last flight recorded on the pad indicated a Hobbs time of 521.4 hours on April 7, 2013.
Meteorological Information
The nearest recorded weather, at Stuart, Florida, 14 nautical miles to the east, at 0747, included scattered clouds at 1,300 feet, mist, 5 miles visibility, temperature 23°C, dew point 22°C, and an altimeter setting of 29.97 inches Hg. One witness reported ground fog at the time of the accident that dissipated about 20 minutes later.
Wreckage and Impact Information
The airplane impacted the ground next to a busy road. Due to anticipated storms and darkness, local authorities moved the wreckage before NTSB arrival, with extensive photographs taken. A site visit the next morning revealed ground scars consistent with a nose-down initial impact. The initial impact point was a shallow crater containing a propeller blade fragment, located near 27°14.28'N, 080°28.52'W, about 470 feet from the runway 27 threshold on a bearing of 090° magnetic. A linear ground scar about the length of the wing emanated from the crater toward 220° magnetic, and another similar scar toward 060° magnetic. The lack of additional scarring suggested the airplane bounced once before coming to rest on its nose about 25 feet, 330° magnetic from the crater, heading approximately 110° magnetic.
Examination at a storage facility showed all flight control surfaces present, but control continuity could not be confirmed due to cockpit crushing. The fuselage had an approximately 45° upward bend just aft of the landing gear. The left wing had leading edge damage along its entire span; the right wing had fabric tears on both upper and lower inboard sections. Wing crush angles were indeterminable due to fabric-covered wooden rib construction. One of three composite propeller blades was sheared near the hub; the next blade in rotation had a chordwise fracture and leading edge scuffing; the third blade was relatively unscathed. The spinner exhibited aft and rotational deformation.
A mid-1990s hand-held Magellan Skyblazer XL GPS unit recovered from the wreckage was forwarded to the NTSB Recorders Laboratory, but data was not retrievable.
Medical and Toxicological Information
An autopsy at the Florida District 19 Medical Examiner's Office determined the cause of death as "blunt trauma injuries." Toxicology testing at the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute detected diphenhydramine in the liver and pericardial blood (0.043 µg/ml) and doxylamine in the urine, pericardial blood (0.339 µg/ml), and femoral blood (0.103 µg/ml). Diphenhydramine and doxylamine are sedating antihistamines available over the counter (e.g., Benadryl, Sominex, NyQuil, Unisom) and carry warnings about impairing mental or physical ability for hazardous tasks.