Leslie Briggs GLASAIR III N422CS

Summary

On 30 July 2000 at about 18:55 local time, a Leslie Briggs GLASAIR III registered N422CS was involved in an accident near Smithfield, North Carolina, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

30 July 2000 at 18:55

Classification

Accident

Location

Smithfield, North Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Johnson County (JNX)

Coordinates

35.4991, -78.3400

Aircraft

Leslie Briggs GLASAIR III

Registration

N422CS

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Williamston

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ATL00LA070

2 people died.

The pilot's failure to maintain flying speed during an emergency landing which lead to an inadvertent stall/spin. A factor was the pilot's failure to secure the cockpit canopy prior to takeoff.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

A witness flying in the vicinity of the airport stated that the airplane took off from runway 03 and climbed to about 500 feet above ground level. He said the airplane turned sharply to the left and then to the right and headed back towards the runway, then rolled inverted and collided with the runway surface in a 20 to 30 degree nose down attitude. The airport manager stated that he noticed that the cockpit canopy was unlatched during the takeoff roll. He then contacted the pilot by radio. The pilot responded, but his transmission was unreadable. The aircraft made a left turn back to the runway. While making the final turn to align with runway 21 the airplane rolled to the right in a steep decent and impacted the runway.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.