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CHI92DEP03 · Stuart J. Carter MONI

15 Aug 1992 · Eau Claire, WI, United States

Stuart J. Carter MONI · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb

From Chippewa Valley Regional Airport (EAU) to Chippewa Valley Regional Airport (EAU)

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Event

NTSB case
CHI92DEP03
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

Stuart J. Carter MONI

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
N3944C
Operator
Berg, Randy R. · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Chippewa Valley Regional Airport (EAU)To Chippewa Valley Regional Airport (EAU)
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
Loss of control in flight
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
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Airspeed, not maintained

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED AS THE PILOT/OWNER OF THE HOMEBUILT AIRPLANE WAS MAKING HIS FIRST FLIGHT IN THE AIRCRAFT. THE PILOT STATED THAT AFTER TAKEOFF HE ACCELERATED TO 60 KNOTS AND NOTED THAT CONTROL RESPONSE SEEMED 'SLOW.' HE THEN ACCELERATED TO 70 KNOTS AND THE AILERONS STILL SEEMED 'UNRESPONSIVE.' HE STATED HE ATTEMPTED TO KEEP THE AIRSPEED BETWEEN 75 AND 80 KNOTS; HOWEVER, THE AIRPLANE SLOWED TO 74 KNOTS AT WHICH TIME, HE STATED, THE RIGHT WING STALLED. WITNESSES REPORTED SEEING THE AIRPLANE DURING THE INITIAL CLIMB AND INDICATED THAT THE WINGS WERE ROLLING LEFT AND RIGHT JUST PRIOR TO THE AIRPLANE PITCHING NOSE DOWN AND ENTERING A BANK UNTIL IMPACT WITH THE TERRAIN.

Probable cause

THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN AIRSPEED.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI92DEP03
Event ID
20001211X15336
Case number
CHI92DEP03
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: ce8320363a7b52b13b4141d997c7b1ff3e446e205b8c81905f3c29565c830ad2; retrieved 2026-09-21T14:48:29.302Z.