CHI84FU008 · Mattison MAC ULTRALIGHT MAC ULTRAL
Mattison MAC ULTRALIGHT MAC ULTRAL · Accident: loss of control in flight on approach
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI84FU008
- 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
Mattison MAC ULTRALIGHT MAC ULTRAL
- Aircraft type
- Mattison MAC ULTRALIGHT
- Category
- Ultralight
- 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
- UNREG
- 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 103: Ultralight
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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 handling, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Directional control, improper
- Pilot in command › Inadequate initial training
- Pilot in command › Proper descent rate, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Pull-up, not attained
- Pilot in command › Throttle/power control, improper use of
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE RECENTLY PURCHASED ULTRALIGHT WAS TAXIED FOR ABOUT 40 MINUTES PRIOR TO THE NEW OWNER TRYING HIS FIRST FLT. HE HAD BEEN ADVISED BY THE FORMER OWNER TO MAKE SHORT HOPS AT LOW ALTITUDE DURING A FAMILIARIZATION PERIOD. THE FORMER OWNER WANTED TO BE PRESENT FOR THIS PERIOD BECAUSE THE NEW OWNER HAD NO AVIATION EXPERIENCE. THE NEW OWNER TOOK OFF ON HIS FIRST FLT WITHOUT THE INSTRUCTION OF THE SHORT HOP PERIOD OF FAMILIARIZATION. THE TAKEOFF WENT OK AND THE ULTRALIGHT PROCEEDED DOWNWIND TO BASE IN A CONTROLLED LEVEL FLT. THE TURN TO FINAL APPROACH WAS OVERSHOT AND THE ULTRALIGHT ANGLED BACK TO 40 DEG OFF THE RWY HEADING. OVER A TREE HE WAS HEARD TO THROTTLE BACK TO DESCEND, THEN TO ACCELERATE AND DECELERATE. AT THIS TIME THE ULTRALIGHT WAS SEEN TO NOSE DOWN & DIVE INTO THE GROUND FROM ABOUT 100 FT AGL AT AN ANGLE OF ABOUT 30 DEGREES. THE ACFT WAS DESTROYED AND THE PLT FATALLY INJURED ON IMPACT. THE ENGINE WAS STARTED AND RUN AT VARIOUS POWER SETTINGS FOR 10 MINUTES IN A TEST AFTER THE ACCIDENT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI84FU008
- Event ID
- 20001214X40224
- Case number
- CHI84FU008
- 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: 5949cde32c31510b12c176bac2707d6a9d96a873a8666a8ec0de7b6ce37885e1; retrieved 2026-09-21T05:25:36.893Z.