FTW94FA176 · Praker Thorp T18C
Praker Thorp T18C · Accident: airframe, component or system failure during initial climb
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW94FA176
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Praker Thorp T18C
- Aircraft type
- Praker Thorp T18
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N86BP
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Initial climb
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Airframe, component or system failure
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Stall/spin
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Flight control, stabilator › Movement restricted
- Pilot in command › Remedial action, not possible
- Pilot in command › Stall/spin, inadvertent
- Reason for occurrence undetermined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
AFTER THE FIRST TEST FLIGHT FOR THE HOME BUILT AIRPLANE, THE TEST PILOT TOLD THE OWNER/BUILDER THAT HE HAD TO HOLD 35 POUNDS OF FORWARD STICK PRESSURE TO MAINTAIN LEVEL FLIGHT IN CRUISE. THE BUILDER AND TEST PILOT REMOVED THE STABILATOR ANTI-SERVO TAB CONTROL ARMS AND BENT THEM IN A VICE WITH A MALLET. THE ARMS WERE SUBSEQUENTLY REINSTALLED AND THE AIRPLANE TOOK OFF ON A SECOND TEST FLIGHT. VIDEO TAPE SHOWED THE SECOND TAKEOFF INITIAL CLIMB TO BE STEEPER THAN THE FIRST. SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, THE TOWER ASKED THE PILOT WHY HE WAS TURNING RIGHT INSTEAD OF THE REQUIRED LEFT TURN. HE STATED 'I GOT PROBLEMS HERE.' THE AIRPLANE CONTINUED TO CLIMB AND WAS SEEN TO ENTER A RIGHT SPIN FROM A NOSE HIGH, STEEP RIGHT BANK ATTITUDE. THE TEST PILOT HAD SEVERAL YEARS TEST EXPERIENCE AND 1,000 HOURS IN THE ACCIDENT MAKE AND MODEL. THE REASON FOR THE STABILATOR CONTROL MALFUNCTION WAS NOT DETERMINED. HOWEVER, A MAINTENANCE INSTRUCTION ADJUSTMENT RIGGING CHECK WAS NOT PERFORMED AFTER THE REINSTALLATION OF THE ARMS.
Probable cause
THE PILOT'S INABILITY TO PREVENT AN INADVERTENT STALL AND HIS INABILITY TO RECOVER DUE TO A RESTRICTION IN THE MOVEMENT OF THE STABILATOR FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS. A FACTOR WAS THE FAILURE OF THE OWNER/BUILDER AND THE PILOT TO ACCOMPLISH A CONTROL RIGGING CHECK PRIOR TO THE FLIGHT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW94FA176
- Event ID
- 20001206X01274
- Case number
- FTW94FA176
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 835dc80f41cb90796cbc6b1d725c966f9ec1e1c611bd353aabce551b321d9076; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:08:59.593Z.