FTW89DRA07 · Lowe/Bensen KB-2
Lowe/Bensen KB-2 · Accident: in flight collision with terrain/water while maneuvering
From 5R5 · Wharton, TX to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW89DRA07
- 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
Lowe/Bensen KB-2
- Aircraft type
- Lowe/bensen KB-2
- Category
- Gyroplane
- 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
- N7037K
- Operator
- David L. Lowe · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 5R5 · Wharton, TXTo 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
- Maneuvering
- 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
- In flight collision with terrain/water
- 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 › Clearance, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Judgment, poor
- Pilot in command › Maneuver, excessive
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT OF N7037K WAS IN A FLT OF 2 GYROPLANES, FLYING IN-TRAIL OF THE OTHER ACFT. WHEN LAST SEEN BY THE LEAD PLT, N7037K WAS BEHIND, MAKING A DIVING MANEUVER TOWARD THE GROUND. THE LEAD PLT STATED THAT THRU-OUT THEIR FLT, THE PLT OF THE ADCNT ACFT HAD BEEN FLYING AT ALTITUDES RANGING FM 1000' AGL TO 50' AGL, MAKING STEEP TURNS IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO TREES & TERRAIN. THE LEAD PLT DID NOT SEE N7037K CRASH, BUT FOUND IT LATER, IN THE VICINITY OF WHERE HE LAST SAW IT. N7037K WAS EXTENSIVELY DAMAGE; THERE WAS LITTLE FORWARD MOVEMENT OF THE GYROPLANE AFTER IMPACT. NO PREIMPACT MECHANICAL FAILURE WAS FOUND. THERE WERE NO KNOWN WITNESSES TO THE ACDNT. THE PLT OF N7037K HELD ONLY A STUDENT PLT CERTIFICATE.
Probable cause
POOR JUDGEMENT BY THE STUDENT PILOT BY PERFORMING EXCESSIVE/LOW ALTITUDE MANEUVERS, WHICH RESULTED IN HIS FAILURE TO MAINTAIN SUFFICIENT CLEARANCE (ALTITUDE) ABOVE THE OPEN FIELD. HIS LACK OF FAMILIARITY WITH THE AIRCRAFT WAS A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW89DRA07
- Event ID
- 20001213X28821
- Case number
- FTW89DRA07
- 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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1989-07-14.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 9419bde80142e021958c94632b6d51ccd570daa78272efc4ba2c6d9484f3261f; retrieved 2026-09-21T03:14:19.431Z.