Covey TRI QUICKIE N8054Y

Summary

On 15 June 2021 at about 15:20 local time, a Covey TRI QUICKIE registered N8054Y was involved in an accident near Gila Bend, Arizona, United States. 2 people were on board and one died, one was seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 June 2021 at 15:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Gila Bend, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Gila Bend Muni (E63)

Coordinates

32.9446, -112.7136

Aircraft

Covey TRI QUICKIE

Registration

N8054Y

Category

Airplane

Year built

2004

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR21FA227

1 person died.

The pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack during the takeoff initial climb, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and loss of airplane control. Contributing to the accident was the reduced airplane performance due to high density altitude conditions.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot had recently purchased the airplane and was flying it back to his home airport with a passenger onboard. The pilot had stopped at the accident airport the evening before the accident and refueled the airplane for departure the following day. A witness observed the accident airplane taxi to the runway hold short line, where it remained for about 20 minutes with the engine running. The witness saw the airplane depart, and about a 1/3 of the way down the 5,200-ft-long runway, observed a dirt cloud and surmised that the landing gear must have departed the runway surface. The airplane returned to the runway centerline. The witness stated that the airplane continued, and about midway down the runway, it appeared the airplane was “yanked off the runway,” and struggled to gain altitude. The witness estimated that the airplane reached an altitude of about 50 ft above ground level when it turned to the left, stalled, and impacted the ground. Using recorded weather conditions from a nearby weather reporting station, the calculated density altitude was about 3,486 ft at the time of the accident. Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation; however, the examination was limited due to thermal damage sustained in the post-impact fire. It is likely that the airplane’s takeoff performance was degraded by the high-density altitude conditions, which would have resulted in an increased takeoff distance and decreased climb performance. It is also likely that, after the airplane became airborne, the pilot inadvertently exceeded the airplane’s critical angle of attack, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall, loss of control and impact with the ground.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.