FTW83FU001 · Rotec RALLY 2B
Rotec RALLY 2B · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route
From an unrecorded airport to Alvin, TX
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW83FU001
- 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
Rotec RALLY 2B
- Aircraft type
- Rotec RALLY 2
- 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 Alvin, TX
- 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
- En route · cruise
- 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- 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
- Fuselage, attachment › Previous damage
- Fuselage, attachment › Separation
- Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Maintenance, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT HAD FLOWN THE ULTRALIGHT VEHICLE TO HIS EMPLOYER'S HOUSE & LANDED IN THE BACK YARD. DURING THE LANDING, THE VEHICLE SUSTAINED DAMAGE WHICH INCLUDED A BENT MAIN LANDING GEAR AXLE, A SHEARED KINGPIN BOLT & A CRACKED TAIL BOOM TO TAILMOUNT SLEEVE. A HARDENED BOLT WAS PURCHASED AT AN AUTOMOTIVE PARTS STORE & PARTIAL REPAIRS WERE MADE; HOWEVER, THE DAMAGE TO THE TAIL BOOM WAS NOT DETECTED. THE ULTRALIGHT WAS PREFLIGHTED & THE PLT TOOK OFF. AFTER CIRCLING ONCE & WAVING, HE STARTED ON THE RETURN FLT. SHORTLY AFTER THAT, WITNESSES HEARD THE ENG SLOW OR STOP AS THE ULTRALIGHT PITCHED NOSE DOWN INTO A STEEP DIVE & CRASHED. AN EXAM OF THE WRECKAGE REVEALED THAT THE RIGHT TAIL BOOM TUBE HAD SEPARATED IN FLT. DURING IMPACT, IT HAD PENETRATED THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZER SAIL WITHOUT BENDING. THE LEFT TAIL BOOM WAS BENT DURING IMPACT. A PICTURE OF THE ULTRALIGHT (TAKEN BEFORE TAKEOFF) REVEALED THAT THE HORIZONTAL STABILIZER WAS SLIGHTLY ANGLED FROM THE HORIZONTAL AXIS OF THE ULTRALIGHT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW83FU001
- Event ID
- 20001214X42977
- Case number
- FTW83FU001
- 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: 9094db513b84f50c67ee73efd27137bf712de90dc5944d605aca05d412bba657; retrieved 2026-09-21T06:50:00.878Z.