Larson Roger H RV-7 N5897R

Summary

On 1 January 2017 at about 00:00 local time, a Larson Roger H RV-7 registered N5897R was involved in an accident near Casa Grande, Arizona, 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

1 January 2017 at 00:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Casa Grande, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Casa Grande Muni (CGZ)

Coordinates

32.9564, -111.7639

Aircraft

Larson Roger H RV-7

Registration

N5897R

Category

Airplane

Year built

2015

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Madison → Casa Grande

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

GAA17CA108

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s inadvertent application of the autopilot during short final, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and hard landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that, during his second flight, following the installation of a new autopilot, he noticed on short final that the mixture was set too lean. He added that, "with a gloved hand," he pushed the mixture in to a richer setting and accidently turned on the autopilot, which was located directly above the mixture control. The autopilot was set to navigation mode, heading mode, and altitude mode from a previous flight. The pilot reported that he was "fighting the auto pilot" and that the airplane aerodynamically stalled, which resulted in a hard landing. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall. The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.