Riggs SKYRAIDER 1 N321TR

Summary

On 6 May 2004 at about 22:33 local time, a Riggs SKYRAIDER 1 registered N321TR was involved in an accident near Blounts Creek, North Carolina, 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

6 May 2004 at 22:33

Classification

Accident

Location

Blounts Creek, North Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Private Strip

Coordinates

35.4611, -77.0008

Aircraft

Riggs SKYRAIDER 1

Registration

N321TR

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Blounts Creek → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ATL04LA111

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed which resulted in a stall. A factor was loss of engine power and water in the fuel.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The circumstances of the flight and if a complete preflight or fuel system check was performed by the pilot are not known. A witness stated that the airplane was on a base to final for the grass strip runway when the left wing dipped and the airplane went straight into the ground. The airplane came to rest in a field with a nose down attitude, 100 yards northwest of the runway. Based on the global positioning system (GPS) track recovered from the airplane, the flight duration was one minute and twenty seconds. Examination of the wreckage site found the airplane in the immediate area, approximately 35 degrees in a nose down attitude. The engine was buried several inches into the ground and displaced aft into the cockpit area. Examination of the airplane revealed the fuselage was buckled, the empennage was deflected towards the right side, both wings had leading edge crush damage, the left wing ribs were broken and the right main wheel was separated. The examination also revealed that there was six pounds of lead weight added to the tail section at the bottom of the horizontal stabilizer and there were no problems found with the flight controls. Further examination discovered that there was a small amount of corrosion from water inside the bowl of the carburetor that was found separated from the engine and the bowl from the other carburetor contained fuel and water. The two-inline fuel filters both contained water. The only fuel drain in the aircraft was connected to the bottom of the header tank. The drain was removed and four ounces of water was discovered in the header tank. The left wing tank had no facilities for a drain in the tank and 10 to 12 ounces of water was found in that tank. The right fuel tank had been separated and was empty.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.