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CHI90DEP04 · Goss KR-2

27 May 1990 · Kenosha, WI, United States

Goss KR-2 · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb

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Event

NTSB case
CHI90DEP04
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

Goss KR-2

Aircraft type
Goss KR-2
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
N777BG
Operator
William S. Goss · private individual
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
Loss of control in flight
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 › Aircraft control, not possible
  • Pilot in command › Aircraft weight and balance, misjudged

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

NTSB narrative

THE PRIVATE PILOT WAS CONDUCTING THE INITIAL FLIGHT IN THE AMATEUR BUILT EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT. THE AIRCRAFT CONTAINED 12 GALLONS OF FUEL; ALL IN THE LEFT WING. DURING THE INITIAL CLIMB, THE AIRCRAFT ENCOUNTERED AN UNCOMMANDED ROLL TO THE LEFT, WHICH THE PILOT WAS UNABLE TO ARREST WITH CONTROL INPUTS. THE AIRCRAFT DESCENDED AND IMPACTED THE TERRAIN OFF THE LEFT SIDE OF THE RUNWAY.

Probable cause

FAILURE OF THE PILOT TO MAINTAIN CONTROL OF THE AIRCRAFT, WHILE FLYING IT WITH A LATERALLY IMBALANCED CONDITION. FACTORS RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT WERE: THE PILOT'S LACK OF FLYING EXPERIENCE, AND HIS LACK OF FAMILIARITY WITH THIS AIRCRAFT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI90DEP04
Event ID
20001212X23093
Case number
CHI90DEP04
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: de5d458d6e54c077d6dcbaa6a2dc4d091e605e92f515c18ce2f0e111b9280179; retrieved 2026-09-21T15:41:55.749Z.