Piper PA18-150 N18338

Summary

On 2 November 2008 at about 18:11 local time, a Piper PA18-150 registered N18338, operated by Conrad Lapp, was involved in an accident near Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. 2 people were 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

2 November 2008 at 18:11

Classification

Accident

Location

Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Private airstrip (N/A)

Coordinates

38.8503, -104.0894

Aircraft

Piper PA18-150

Registration

N18338

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Conrad Lapp

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Colorado Spring → Rush

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN09CA079

Nobody was injured.

Loss of directional control due to an encounter with a weather phenomena at rotation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the pilot, he was attempting to depart from an unimproved private airstrip. As the airplane rotated for lift-off at 35 to 40 miles per hour, it was "hit by a dust devil." The airplane rotated ninety degrees to the right and the application of full opposite control inputs failed to re-establish directional control. The airplane impacted terrain, causing the left landing gear to collapse, followed by the collapse of the right landing gear and resulting in multiple propeller ground strikes. The airplane sustained a bent right wing spar. The pilot reported the weather conditions at the time of the accident as a variable 7- to 10-knot wind, gusting to 12 to 15 knots. An hourly weather observation taken at the time of the accident 39 miles west of the accident site showed the wind to be 170 at four knots.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.