What happened
On July 29, 2013, an Airborne Windsports Edge XT-912-L aircraft, registration N123FJ, crashed at Red Bluff Municipal Airport in Red Bluff, California. The flight was intended to proceed from Red Bluff to Chico, California, under visual meteorological conditions with a wind of 180 degrees at 4 knots and 6 miles of visibility. No flight plan had been filed for the trip.
A witness observed the aircraft take off and enter a very steep climb before rolling to the right and descending vertically into the ground. Throughout the climb and the subsequent descent, the witness reported hearing the engine operating at full power. The impact occurred approximately 75 yards west of runway 15 near the touchdown zone markings. A post-impact fire destroyed the aircraft.
A witness at the scene located the pilot approximately 5 to 6 feet from the main wreckage and moved him away from the burning aircraft before the fire consumed the plane. The pilot, age 65, sustained 1 fatal injury due to multiple blunt force injuries.
The investigation
Investigators reviewed the aircraft's maintenance logs, which showed the most recent conditional inspection was completed on March 5, 2013. The aircraft, a tandem two-seat weight-shift motorized trike, was powered by a Rotax 912UL 80-hp engine. A review of photographs of the wreckage showed no visual evidence of airframe failure or mechanical malfunction.
The pilot's logbook indicated he had accumulated 419 total flight hours, with 7.1 hours in N123FJ. He had recently completed instructional flights in this specific aircraft and had performed a solo flight two days prior to the accident.
An autopsy was conducted, and toxicology results were negative for carbon monoxide and cyanide, though atenolol was detected in the blood and liver. An investigation into the pilot's position during the crash noted that the autopsy revealed no injuries typically associated with the use of a seatbelt. A flight instructor noted that in weight-shift aircraft, the movement of the aircraft's weight can pull an unsecured pilot out of the seat.