15 Apr 2013: JANS ROBERT FALCON XP — Jerry R Morehouse

15 Apr 2013: JANS ROBERT FALCON XP — Jerry R Morehouse

No fatalities • Diboll, TX, United States

Probable cause

The pilot did not properly secure a sand bag in the airplane's rear seat causing its flight controls to become jammed and resulting in the airplane's inability to avoid a collision with power lines.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

While the pilot was conducting a fast taxi test, the experimental airplane that he had been rebuilding for almost 2 years, unexpectedly became airborne. The pilot's intent was not to fly. There was not enough runway remaining to land safely so the pilot decided to continue flying the airplane about 5 miles to an airport that had multiple long runways and to try to land. He flew the airplane in a large circle trying to get the feel for the controls so he would be better prepared to land. There was a 10-pound sandbag in the rear seat that the pilot used to lay on the front canard when the airplane was parked. He said that the weight helped the airplane from tipping over backward when the motor was not running and no one in the cockpit. He said that he intended to buckle the sandbag in prior to the taxi test, but did not. While circling for a long final approach, the elevator froze and the airplane pitched down. The pilot could not move the control stick rearward to arrest the descent. He tried everything to release the control jam including putting so much back pressure on the control stick that it bent, still with no change. He saw wires approaching and was hoping that he would clear them, but the airplane hit the wires in the middle of the lines. Both wings came off and the airplane caught fire and fell straight down, about 50 feet. After impact, three men appeared and freed the pilot from the burning airplane. The pilot later looked at the burned out fuselage and confirmed that the sandbag was where he thought it had ended up, between the back seat and the rear control stick. He said that he should have taken the time to secure the sandbag prior to the taxi test.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • Control column section

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 180/04kt, 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.