WPR09LA075 · Czech Aircraft Works Sport Cruiser
Czech Aircraft Works Sport Cruiser · Accident: system/component malfunction/failure (non-power) during initial climb
From Casa Grande Municipal Airport (KCGZ) to Falcon Field (KFFZ)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR09LA075
- 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
Czech Aircraft Works Sport Cruiser
- Aircraft type
- Czech Aircraft Works SPORT CRUISER
- 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
- N797BS
- Operator
- Robert A Switzer · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Casa Grande Municipal Airport (KCGZ), Casa Grande, AZTo Falcon Field (KFFZ), Falcon Field, AZ
- 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
- System/component malfunction/failure (non-power)
- 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 structures
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot followed the manufacturer’s before-takeoff checklist, but failed to ensure that the canopy was latched prior to takeoff. The canopy of the Special Light Sport category airplane popped open during the initial climb, about 500 feet above ground. The canopy is hinged in front of the cockpit and rotates upward when open. The pilot said that he tried to keep the canopy closed with his free hand but the canopy continued to rise higher and higher. The pilot turned back to the airport and made an off-field landing. Inspection of the canopy latch mechanism revealed no mechanical anomalies, and the canopy latch hooks aligned with the canopy frame latch slots. When the airplane is static, the canopy will remain in the closed position with the canopy lever in the ‘open’ (unlatched) position. By design the canopy latch lever is positioned behind the pilot’s right elbow, and not in direct view when looking forward or at the instrument panel. The manufacturer does not provide a ‘canopy unlatched’ warning device, and the Pilot Operating Handbook does not include a checklist step to check that the canopy is latched. It also it does not provide procedures for the pilot to execute if the canopy is unlatched or becomes unlatched in flight. The ASTM standard that guides Light Sport Aircraft design does not address canopy latching/locking systems or the associated Pilot Operating Handbook information.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to ensure that the canopy was latched prior to takeoff. Contributing to the accident was the inadequate guidance in the Pilot Operating Handbook regarding canopy procedures.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR09LA075
- Event ID
- 20090107X52840
- Case number
- WPR09LA075
- 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. 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: f5afc4764609232fe6f6b9f77bd291ba10164e50d085f1554c80a8fbef6b4c76; retrieved 2026-09-15T10:40:33.193Z.