Sidney FREEBIRD UNREG

Summary

On 8 August 2004 at about 15:17 local time, a Sidney FREEBIRD registered UNREG, operated by Marvin G. Ison, was involved in an accident near Lexington, Tennessee, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

8 August 2004 at 15:17

Classification

Accident

Location

Lexington, Tennessee, United States

Nearest airport

Franklin Wilkins (M52)

Coordinates

35.6495, -88.3907

Aircraft

Sidney FREEBIRD

Registration

UNREG

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Marvin G. Ison

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Lexington → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ATL04LA166

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed, resulting in an inadvertent stall, and collision with the ground. A factor was the pilot's total lack of experience in type of aircraft.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot purchased the non-registered airplane and was conducting a test flight to become familiar with the flight characteristics of the airplane. The pilot did not have any flight time in the FREEBIRD airplane. The pilot informed his son, that he was going to ground taxi the airplane, allow the airplane to get airborne, and land the airplane before he continued the takeoff. The pilot also stated, if he encountered a stall, he would push the nose of the airplane over to gain airspeed. The pilot conducted a preflight inspection and no anomalies were noted. The son stated his father started the ground taxi, the airplane became airborne, and the nose of the airplane was observed to pitch up and down. The son was surprised when his father continued the takeoff instead of landing the airplane. As the speed of the airplane increased the airplane stabilized, and the airplane continued in a climb. The airplane was observed to enter left closed traffic for runway 15, and was between 100 to 250 feet above the ground. The airplane was observed turning to final, and a decrease in engine power was heard. The airspeed of the airplane decreased. The nose of the airplane was observed to pitch down, up, down, and back up about 45-degrees before the left wing dropped down. The son stated, "he knew the airplane had stalled, and watched it descend and collide with the ground." Performance data for the FREEBIRD indicates the airplane will stall at 32 mph. Examination of the airframe, flight controls, and engine assembly and accessories revealed no anomalies.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.