Airborne Windsports EDGE X N354MB

Summary

On 26 October 2022 at about 01:00 local time, a Airborne Windsports EDGE X registered N354MB was involved in an accident near Alturas, California, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

26 October 2022 at 01:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Alturas, California, United States

Coordinates

41.4866, -120.5652

Aircraft

Airborne Windsports EDGE X

Registration

N354MB

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR23LA025

1 person died.

The non-certificated pilot’s loss of control for undetermined reasons.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane was observed flying around the area at an unknown time on the day of the accident, but no other information was available about the flight. At about 1800, law enforcement received a notification that aircraft wreckage was discovered on the airport property between a runway and a taxiway. There were no known witnesses to the accident. Before the aircraft was sold to the non-certificated accident pilot, the previous owner had provided the pilot with several familiarization flights and emphasized the importance of obtaining instructional lessons since he had no experience with weight-shift-controlled aircraft. However, the pilot disregarded the advice likely because he assumed the aircraft had similar handling characteristics to hang gliders, which he had previous experience operating. Toxicology testing revealed the pilot had used cannabis; however, since no psychoactive THC or psychoactive metabolite was found in blood samples, it is unlikely that the pilot was under the influence of THC at the time of the accident. Given the pilot’s lack of experience in power gliders and the signature of the terrain impact, it is most likely that the pilot lost control of the power glider for undetermined reasons.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.