Shannon Kevin RV-8 N184KS

Summary

On 6 July 2008 at about 01:00 local time, a Shannon Kevin RV-8 registered N184KS was involved in an accident near Valera, Texas, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

6 July 2008 at 01:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Valera, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Coleman Municipal Airport (COM)

Coordinates

31.7522, -99.5564

Aircraft

Shannon Kevin RV-8

Registration

N184KS

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Coleman → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN08LA119

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed during a forced landing, which led to an aerodynamic stall, following a loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's mismanagement of fuel and the low altitude at which the power loss occurred.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was performing low passes over a private ranch. The airplane was fueled the day before the accident with 17.4 gallons of fuel and had a 42-gallon fuel capacity. The pilot had commented to his wife prior to the accident that he didn't want a full fuel load for the flyover. After the pilot refueled, he flew the airplane for at least an hour that day and for an undetermined amount of time the day of the flyover. The pilot planned for and flew three low-altitude passes, ending each pass with a pull-up. During the pull-up from the third pass, the airplane was seen to roll to the left followed by a steep dive into a car parking area. The airplane turned approximately 270 degrees from the start of the pull-up until it impacted the ground. An examination of the airplane showed no evidence of aviation fuel at the accident site, in the airplane's fuel tanks, or in the engine fuel lines. The propeller and engine case damage was consistent with that of an engine not developing power at impact. The engine manual states that the engine burn rate is approximately 9.5 gallons per hour in economy cruise flight and 12.3 gallons per hour in performance cruise flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.