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SEA04LA129 · Logston Starduster SA100DL

10 Jul 2004 · Arlington, WA, United States

Logston Starduster SA100DL and Fitz Starduster SA300 · Accident: on ground/water collision with object while taxiing

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Event

NTSB case
SEA04LA129
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
Unknown
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

Aircraft 1 · Logston Starduster SA100DL

Category
Airplane
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
N35RL
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Arlington Municipal Airport (AWO), Arlington, WATo Bowerman Airport (HQM), Hoquiam, WA
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 91: General Aviation
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
On ground/water collision with object
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Aircraft 2 · Fitz Starduster SA300

Category
Airplane
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
N328SF
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Arlington Municipal Airport (AWO), Arlington, WATo Bowerman Airport (HQM), Hoquiam, WA
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 91: General Aviation
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
On ground/water collision with object
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Minor

Cause areas

  • Pilot in command › Clearance, not maintained
  • Pilot of other aircraft › Clearance, not maintained

Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

The pilot of the Starduster SA100DL reported that he and the pilot of a Starduster SA300 were to be a flight of two for takeoff. The pilot reported that he was in the lead during the taxi to runway 34, with the Starduster SA300 trailing. The pilot of the Starduster SA100DL was waived onto the runway by one of several flagmen that were directing aircraft for takeoff. This was the end of the air show that had been ongoing for several days. Flagmen were used to direct aircraft from parking, taxi and takeoff. The Starduster SA100DL pilot reported that a flagman on the runway waived him to the right side of the runway centerline and then a second flagman motioned him to a point to stop. A few seconds after he stopped at the designated point, the trailing Starduster SA300 collided into the left wings of the Starduster SA100DL. The pilot of the Starduster SA300 reported that the flagmen on the runway did not let the aircraft enter the runway the same as they had been doing during the air show for a flight of two. The preceding aircraft was stopped shorter than they had been doing. When the pilot of the Starduster SA300 was waived on, his aircraft collided with the left wings of the preceding Starduster SA100DL.

Probable cause

Clearance was not maintained during taxi to the runway by the pilot of another aircraft which resulted in an on ground collision with the aircraft standing on the runway. The aircraft standing on the runway was a factor.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record SEA04LA129
Event ID
20040722X01032
Case number
SEA04LA129
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: local date, investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2004-07-11.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 804ea846e19af77fd85992fc6b697e737aae03627018349af048962118fe20f5; retrieved 2026-09-22T07:06:01.917Z.