SEA08LA101 · Jihlavan KP 5 ASA
Jihlavan KP 5 ASA · Accident: loss of control in flight during initial climb
From Marana Regional Airport (KAVQ) to Marana Regional Airport (KAVQ)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA08LA101
- 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
Jihlavan KP 5 ASA
- Aircraft type
- Jihlavan KP-5
- 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
- N31KP
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Marana Regional Airport (KAVQ), Marana, AZTo Marana Regional Airport (KAVQ)
- 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
- Initial climb
- Defining eventThe 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The airplane's canopy partially opened shortly after takeoff, and the pilot elected to return to the airport for landing. When he was about one-half mile from the airport, he inadvertently allowed the airspeed to drop below stall speed (Vs), and the airplane stalled and mushed into the terrain. A postaccident inspection of the latch found it to be fully functional, with no evidence that it would not latch the canopy if the canopy was firmly closed. The latching mechanism is of a spring-loaded self-activating design that automatically slides over the top of a tang attached to the canopy when the canopy is firmly closed by the pilot. The mechanism then remains in the latched position until the pilot moves the release ring into a position that causes the latch to release. The latching mechanism is located about a foot above, and six inches behind, the right shoulder of a pilot sitting in the left seat. In this position the latch is not easily checked visually, thus dictating that the pilot close the canopy firmly, and then push up on the canopy firmly in order to ensure that the latching mechanism has become fully engaged. Discussions with the manufacturer disclosed that since the time that this airplane was manufactured, but prior to this accident, the manufacturer redesigned the airplane canopy latching system. The new design incorporates two latching mechanisms that are located just forward of the pilot on the left and right side fuselage surfaces upon which the canopy rests when closed. The mechanisms are not self-locking, and are instead positive-action latches that must be engaged by the pilot.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain an airspeed above stalling speed (Vs) during an emergency landing after takeoff. Contributing to the accident was an inadequate preflight inspection, and the airplane's canopy coming partially open shortly after takeoff.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA08LA101
- Event ID
- 20080403X00425
- Case number
- SEA08LA101
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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, coordinates. 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: 77030aa4f72b194fa7b8f4e64afdf40ec104258a5a94ff5af6951bb7ad98827e; retrieved 2026-09-15T09:29:21.590Z.