Bordelon Bruce KITFOX IV N396BK

Summary

On 31 July 2012 at about 19:10 local time, a Bordelon Bruce KITFOX IV registered N396BK, operated by Svien Benny H, was involved in an accident near Castlerock, Minnesota, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

31 July 2012 at 19:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Castlerock, Minnesota, United States

Nearest airport

Private Landing Strip (000)

Coordinates

44.5456, -93.1367

Aircraft

Bordelon Bruce KITFOX IV

Registration

N396BK

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Svien Benny H

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Castlerock → Castlerock

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN12CA597

Nobody was injured.

Propeller system failure during a go-around maneuver resulting in a forced landing. Contributing to the severity of damage to the airplane was the postimpact fire.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was flying his experimental airplane, practicing touch-and-go landings on his 1,400 foot long private grass airstrip. The weather was clear. During his third touch-and-go, he determined that he was going to land too long so he made a go-around. As he added power for the go-around, he started to feel vibrations and thought that he had a propeller malfunction. The vibrations continued regardless of power setting, so he shut down the engine and intentionally stalled the airplane about 10 feet above the ground to avoid rolling over when the airplane settled to the ground. The airplane came to rest in a corn field. The pilot saw that a fire had started in the engine compartment after ground impact, so he quickly exited the airplane. A post-crash fire then completely consumed the airplane. Examination of the airplane after the accident did not show any evidence of preimpact mechanical malfunction or abnormalities, although the fire damage was too extensive to specifically determine the reason for presumed propeller malfunction. After the examination, the pilot maintained that he was certain that there was a problem with the propeller and that it was the cause of the accident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.