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LAX83FU011 · Eipper MX

20 Jul 1983 · Ramona, CA, United States

Eipper MX · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb

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Event

NTSB case
LAX83FU011
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

Eipper MX

Aircraft type
Eipper MX
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
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/mush
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
  • Pilot in command › Flight controls, improper use of
  • Pilot in command › Stall/mush, inadvertent

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

NTSB narrative

AFTER RECEIVING DUAL INSTRUCTION IN A 2 PLACE, TRAINING VEHICLE, THE PLT TOOK OFF ON A SOLO FLT FROM A 270 X 25 FT ULTRALIGHT STRIP. HE REPORTED THAT AFTER LIFT-OFF, THE VEHICLE STARTED DRIFTING TOWARD A TREE. HE INITIATED A TURN TO THE RIGHT (AWAY FROM THE TREE); BUT THE VEHICLE BEGAN LOSING LIFT & SUBSEQUENTLY CRASHED IN A NOSE HIGH, SLIGHTLY RIGHT WING LOW ATTITUDE. THE PLT REPORTED THAT THE ENG OPERATED NORMALLY & THAT HE DID NOT USE THE SPOILERONS. HOWEVER, WITNESSES OBSERVED THE VEHICLE IN AN ERRATIC YAW & REPORTED SEEING EXTENSION ON THE RIGHT SPOILERON & LEFT RUDDER DEFLECTION, THEN LATER SAW THE LEFT SPOILERON EXTEND. THE PLT'S INSTRUCTOR CALLED ON THE RADIO TO RETRACT THE SPOILERONS& INCREASE POWER, BUT THE PLT STATED HE DID NOT HEAR THE TRANSMISSION. THE PLT STATED THAT HIS DUAL TRAINING, DURING THEPRECEEDING 2 MONTHS, CONSISTED OF TAKEOFFS & LANDINGS ONLY, AND THAT HE WAS NOT TAUGHT TO USE SPOILERONS AND/OR STALL & SLIP MANEUVERS. THE 2 PLACE ULTRALIGHT, USED FOR DUAL TRAINING, WAS NOT EQUIPPED WITH SPOILERONS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record LAX83FU011
Event ID
20001214X43784
Case number
LAX83FU011
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: 5592e58542a59f5b51691287ff06dbbfe3ec231bab64e9f76c555c610a62001d; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:52:27.871Z.