Cosmos PHASE III N6466

Summary

On 1 May 2018 at about 12:45 local time, a Cosmos PHASE III registered N6466 was involved in an accident near Fernandina Beach, Florida, United States. 2 people were on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

1 May 2018 at 12:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Fernandina Beach, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Fernandina Beach Muni (FHB)

Coordinates

30.6119, -81.4611

Aircraft

Cosmos PHASE III

Registration

N6466

Year built

2003

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fernandina Beach → Fernandina Beach

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR18LA132

1 person had minor injuries.

The student pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control and the flight instructor’s failure to adequately monitor the student pilot before aircraft control was lost at a low altitude.  

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor reported that, during the initial climb for the instructional flight in the weight-shift-control trike, the student pilot was manipulating the controls. About 700 ft above ground level, the aircraft suddenly entered a "hard" left bank. The flight instructor took control of the aircraft but was unable to recover control before the aircraft impacted terrain in a nose-down attitude, which resulted in substantial damage. The flight instructor did not recall if there was a mechanical malfunction or failure but reported that the student pilot was known to freeze on the controls and the student could have been fighting him. It is likely that the flight instructor was not adequately monitoring the student pilot when the aircraft entered the excessive turn and that, due to the low altitude, he did not have sufficient time to recover control before the collision.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.