NYC84FU001 · Vector 610
Vector 610 · Accident: hard landing
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC84FU001
- 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
Vector 610
- Aircraft type
- Vector 610
- 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
- Landing · flare/touchdown
- 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
- Hard landing
- 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 › Flare, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
REPORTEDLY, THE NOSE GEAR ASSEMBLY FAILED WHEN THE PLT MADE A HARD LANDING, THEN THE ULTRALIGHT VEHICLE WENT OVER ON ITS NOSE & CAME TO REST IN A VERTICAL POSITION. FLAMES ENGULFED THE CENTER PORTION OF THE VEHICLE. THE PLT ROLLED FREE FROM THE VEHICLE, BUT HIS PARKA & HELMET WERE ON FIRE. HIS FATHER ARRIVED AT THE SCENE & ASSISTED IN THE RESCUE EFFORT, BUT HAD DIFFICULTY IN REMOVING THE HELMET SINCE THE NYLON STRAP HAD MELTED TOGETHER. THE PLT RECEIVED BURNS OVER 44% OF HIS BODY. THE VEHICLE WAS EQUIPPED WITH 2 PLASTIC FUEL TANKS WHICH WERE PORTABLE & WERE SECURED TO THE FRAME WITH A BUNGEE CORD. THE PLT'S FATHER OWNED THIS & 1 OTHER VECTOR 610. AN EXAM OF THE OTHER VEHICLE REVEALED THE FUEL TANKS WERE MOUNTED WITH THE FUEL CAPS FACING FORWARD, NEXT TO THE BACK OF THE PLT'S SEAT. THERE WAS NO SEAL WHERE THE PLASTIC FUEL LINES PASSED THRU THE FUEL TANK CAPS. WITH APRX 1 GAL OF FUEL IN A TANK, FUEL WOULD LEAK OUT AT A RATE OF ABOUT 1 PINT PER MINUTE. MANUFACTURER'S BROCHURES SHOW THAT THE FUEL TANK CAPS SHOULD FACE TO THE REAR.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC84FU001
- Event ID
- 20001214X44940
- Case number
- NYC84FU001
- 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: c5ba76c9c01ec399271094f5c0603dd0edb11fd1f026265b0e9198f5ac72e667; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:46:08.381Z.