ERA09LA263 · Keeley/Tidd MK-1
Keeley/Tidd MK-1 · Accident: aerodynamic stall/spin during an emergency descent
From Demopolis Municipal Airport (DYA) to Demopolis Municipal Airport (DYA)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA09LA263
- 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
- 1 · 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
Keeley/Tidd MK-1
- Aircraft type
- Keeley/tidd MK-1
- 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
- N91MK
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Demopolis Municipal Airport (DYA), Demopolis, ALTo Demopolis Municipal Airport (DYA), Demopolis, AL
- 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
- Emergency descent
- 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
- Aerodynamic stall/spin
- 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
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot and the former co-builder derived the design of the experimental airplane from one or more other experimental airplanes. The co-builder started the construction, but transferred his ownership share to the pilot, who then completed the construction. In the weeks prior to the accident, the pilot conducted several ground test runs of the airplane, presumably in preparation for its eventual first flight. On more than one occasion during the ground test runs, the engine ceased operating and the airplane had to be towed off the runway since the engine was not equipped with a starter. As of the day of the accident, the airplane had not yet been flown. That day, the pilot informed the individual who helped him start the engine that he would return shortly, since he again only planned to conduct ground test runs. The pilot completed one ground run on the runway, and taxied back for a second run. During the second run, the airplane became airborne, and it was observed moving erratically in all three axes. It stabilized somewhat, made several turns, and appeared to become established on a downwind leg in an apparent attempt to return for landing. Several witnesses heard the engine sputter and then lose power completely. The airplane then stalled at low altitude and impacted the ground at a steep angle approximately 2 miles from the airport.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed following a complete loss of engine power resulting in a stall while maneuvering to land. The reason for the loss of engine power was undetermined.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA09LA263
- Event ID
- 20090426X52912
- Case number
- ERA09LA263
- 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: dcb45740d7c3659c2a3d3fd69218e030d2f0c317ca5a555057eaa20cbbe94198; retrieved 2026-09-13T20:05:32.838Z.