FTW84FU002 · Waspair TOMCAT H.M. 81 TOMCAT H.M
Waspair TOMCAT H.M. 81 TOMCAT H.M · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW84FU002
- 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
Waspair TOMCAT H.M. 81 TOMCAT H.M
- Aircraft type
- Waspair TOMCAT H M 81
- 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
- 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 › Aircraft handling, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Planning/decision, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THE PLT WAS A PARAPLEGIC. HE HAD PREVIOUSLY PURCHASED A CESSNA 172 & HAD IT MODIFIED FOR HAND CONTROL. HOWEVER, HE HAD DISCONTINUED INSTRUCTION IN THE PLANE WHEN HE WAS DENIED A MEDICAL WAIVER ON THE GROUNDS THAT HE HAD TO TAKE VALIUM AS A MUSCLE RELAXANT. LATER, IN 1982, HE PURCHASED PLANS FOR A WASPAIR TOMCAT, ULTRALIGHT VEHICLE AFTER ASSEMBLING THE ULTRALIGHT, THE PLT DECIDED TO PRACTICE 'CROW-HOPS' ON THE LOCAL ARPT. ACCORDING TO WITNESSES, THE WINDS WERE NORTHERLY AT ABOUT 10 GUSTING UP TO 30 KTS. THE PLT STATED THAT HE HAD CHANGED DIRECTION OF HIGH SPEED RUNS TWICE BEFORE BECOMING AIRBORNE. REPORTEDLY, ON ITS 1ST TAKEOFF, THE VEHICLE ENCOUNTERED A GUSTY X-WIND. AT AN ALTITUDE OF APRX 40 FT AGL, HE LOST CONTROL & THE VEHICLE IMPACTED THE GROUND. THE VEHICLE WAS EQUIPPED WITH A TILTING CANARD THAT PROVIDED BOTH PITCH & YAW CONTROL. THE CANARD WAS THE ONLY MOVABLE CONTROL SURFACE & WAS USED FOR AIRBORNE MANEUVERS. THIS WAS THE 1ST FLT FOR THE VEHICLE. THE PLT'S INSTRUCTOR HAD NOT ENDORSED HIM FOR THIS FLT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW84FU002
- Event ID
- 20001214X44829
- Case number
- FTW84FU002
- 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: 510e6f2601b978e601d75982fb99ca1da13a489d901ca01fc8385ee9fc29fbaa; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:45:33.463Z.