CHI96LA225 · Sisk BD-5
Sisk BD-5 · Accident: on ground/water collision with object during takeoff
From Lake Geneva Aire Estates Airport (WI89) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI96LA225
- 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
- 0 · 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
Sisk BD-5
- Aircraft type
- Sisk BD-5
- 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
- N51SK
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Lake Geneva Aire Estates Airport (WI89)To 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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
- On ground/water collision with object
- 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
- Pilot in command › Aborted takeoff, not performed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The experimental BD-5 aircraft had been towed to the run-up area in preparation for a heavy weight test flight. The preflight and run-up were normal. Witnesses indicated the engine developed full power during the takeoff roll, and that the aircraft accelerated to the Go/No-Go point on the 2,300 foot airstrip. The pilot continued the takeoff roll, but reportedly, the aircraft did not rotate. Witnesses reported that the airplane became airborne between 1,900 feet to 2,300 feet down the runway, but only climbed about 4 feet. Subsequently, it impacted a wire fence near the departure end of the runway, and then bounced and skidded across a divided four lane highway, inflicting minor damage to a car. The pilot's wife reported that the temperature was hot, and the wind was calm. The modified inboard marine engine exhibited continuity. The flight controls and drive train exhibited continuity. The propeller which had been carved by the pilot/builder was destroyed during impact.
Probable cause
failure of the pilot to abort the takeoff, while there was sufficient runway remaining. The high temperature and calm wind were related factors.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI96LA225
- Event ID
- 20001208X06165
- Case number
- CHI96LA225
- 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: e8703b9c80281a9a9f8df699824744a725af413e2a898fc0630bd432f90c9202; retrieved 2026-09-21T12:40:03.344Z.