MKC83FU007 · Airmass SUNBURST
Airmass SUNBURST · Accident: in flight collision with object during takeoff
Event
- NTSB case
- MKC83FU007
- 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
Airmass SUNBURST
- Aircraft type
- Airmass SUNBURST
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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 object
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Aborted takeoff, not performed
- Pilot in command › Clearance, misjudged
- Pilot in command › Preflight planning/preparation, inadequate
- Pilot in command › Unsuitable terrain or takeoff/landing/taxi area, selected
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT LANDED IN A VACANT FIELD, APRX 1500 FT LONG, SURROUNDED BY A ROW OF TREES. BEFORE INITIATING A TAKEOFF, HE MADE A GROUND RECONNAISSANCE OF THE AREA. THE FIELD WAS COVERED WITH GRASS APRX 6 TO 9 INCHES TALL & WAS ORIENTED ON A NORTH-SOUTH DIRECTION. THERE WAS A 2% UPSLOPE FROM EITHER END OF THE FIELD TOWARD THE CENTER. ALSO, THERE WAS A ROW OF 20 FT TREES ALONG THE EAST EDGE OF THE FIELD & TALLER TREES, APRX 30 FT HIGH, AT THE NORTH END. THE PLT SAID THE WIND WAS NEGLIGIBLE, SO HE ELECTED TO TAKEOFF TO THE NORTH. DURING TAKEOFF, THE ULTRALIGHT VEHICLE ROLLED APRX 750 FT BEFORE LIFTING OFF. BY THIS TIME, THE PLT BECAME CONCERNED ABOUT CLEARING THE 30 FT TREES AT THE END OF THE FIELD & MADE A RIGHT TURN. HOWEVER, DURING THE RIGHT TURN, THE RIGHT WING HIT A 20 FT TREE & THE VEHICLE CRASHED. THE PLT NOTICED NO MALFUNCTION OR FAILURE, EXCEPT FOR A LOSS OF TAKEOFF PERFORMANCE. THE MANUFACTURER'S LISTED TAKEOFF DISTANCE WAS 75 TO 100 FT. APRX 7 MI EAST AT WICHITA, KS, THE 1649 CDT WIND WAS FROM 190 DEG AT 7 KTS.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MKC83FU007
- Event ID
- 20001214X44643
- Case number
- MKC83FU007
- 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: 707161abe454b9fa5dc96d5e492c8b7b19d64896c12f8cb6612c9c4618d3a7a3; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:47:27.764Z.