Varga 2150A N8422J

Summary

On 17 July 2004 at about 15:30 local time, a Varga 2150A registered N8422J was involved in an accident near Winterset, Iowa, United States. 2 people were on board and one was seriously injured, one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

17 July 2004 at 15:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Winterset, Iowa, United States

Nearest airport

Winterset-Madison County (3Y3)

Coordinates

41.3628, -94.0211

Aircraft

Varga 2150A

Registration

N8422J

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Winterset → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI04LA185

1 person was seriously injured.

The inadequate supervision by the certified flight instructor, fuel starvation, visual/aural detection precluded by the certified flight instructor's seat position, and the inadequate crew coordination of both pilots during the instructional flight. A contributing factor was the low altitude at the time of engine power loss.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The instructional airplane impacted terrain during a go-around from a simulated forced landing at an uncontrolled airport. The two-place airplane was configured with forward and aft pilot positions. The front position was occupied by the student pilot for the flight. The fuel selector was located in the front cockpit. The certified flight instructor (CFI) stated that he explained to the student pilot that they would just read and point out the emergency checklist items. The student pilot stated that the CFI handed him the emergency checklist to run through an "engine failure landing" during which the student pilot shut off the fuel from both tanks. The student stated that he was not looking outside the airplane while going through the checklist and was not quite through with it when they were almost over the runway. Just as they were touching down, it appeared to the student pilot that a wind gust prevented a "straight lined landing" and they drifted off the runway and over a grass area adjacent to the runway. The CFI applied full power and took back off in an attempt to avoid a bump in the grass area. The student pilot was uninjured and reported that he was using the airplane seat belt and shoulder harness at the time of the accident. The CFI received serious facial injuries after he removed his shoulder harness in flight in order to be able to look at the front cockpit controls following the loss of engine power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.