NYC83FU010 · Rotec RALLY 3B
Rotec RALLY 3B · Accident: loss of control on ground/water while taxiing
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC83FU010
- 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
Rotec RALLY 3B
- Aircraft type
- Rotec RALLY 3
- 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
- N116RE
- Operator
- Richard Sarvas
- 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
- Taxi
- 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 on ground/water
- 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 › Clearance, not maintained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Franklin, MA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
ACCORDING TO THE PLT, THE REGISTERED ULTRALIGHT ACFT WAS BROUGHT TO A FIELD DURING THE MORNING TO CHECK OUT THE CONTROL RIGGING & TO FAMILIARIZE HIM WITH THE VEHICLE. THERE WAS NO INTENTION TO FLY THE ULTRALIGHT AT THAT TIME. LATER IN THE DAY, THE PLT WAS TAXIING & 'CROW HOPPING' IN NORTH & SOUTH DIRECTIONS. A WITNESS REPORTED THAT WHILE IT WAS PROCEEDING IN A NORTHERLY DIRECTION, THE ULTRALIGHT MADE SEVERAL HOPS IN THE AIR. HE REPORTED THAT IT THEN VEERED IN A WESTERLY DIRECTION, HOPPED UP & DOWN & FINALLY BECAME AIRBORNE. IT CLIMBED ABOVE TREE TOP LEVEL, THEN TURNED LEFT AS IF THE PLT WAS RETURNING TO THE FIELD. HOWEVER, WHILE IN A TURN, THE LEFT WING COLLIDED WITH THE TREE TOPS & THE ULTRALIGHT CARTWHEELED & CRASHED. THE PLT WAS SERIOUSLY INJURED & COULD NOT REMEMBER DETAILS OF THE ACCIDENT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC83FU010
- Event ID
- 20001214X44672
- Case number
- NYC83FU010
- 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: e14bfb42bde472617d069b17b707b64a7a6f13811149a2f5c76fec443374a418; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:47:30.977Z.