Fortuna SONEX N229P

Summary

On 10 February 2007 at about 19:15 local time, a Fortuna SONEX registered N229P, operated by Charles E. Walton, was involved in an accident near Atlanta, Texas, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

10 February 2007 at 19:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Atlanta, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Hall-Miller Municipal (KATA)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Fortuna SONEX

Registration

N229P

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Charles E. Walton

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Atlanta → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DFW07CA068

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain an adequate airspeed that resulted in a stall/mush. A contributing factor was the group of trees located near the departure end of the runway.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane stalled and collided with trees while maneuvering to avoid trees during a go-around. The pilot reported that while practicing takeoff and landings on runway 33, he determined that he was too high on the approach and initiated a go-around. The pilot concluded that his 80-horsepower homebuilt airplane was not going to be able to clear the trees at the departure end of the 2,463-foot long, by 150-foot wide turf runway, so he turned the airplane 45-degrees to the left to avoid the trees. The pilot added that while maneuvering, the airplane stalled and collided with trees located about 100 yards west of the runway 33. The airplane came to rest in the inverted position at the base of the trees, resulting in structural damage to the wings and the fuselage. The canopy was also damaged. There was no fire. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector who responded to the accident site noted that runway 15/33 is not annotated on the airport diagram thus there was no information about the obstructions present at either end of the runway.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.