ERA10CA461 · Yeager Inc. Lancair 320
Yeager Inc. Lancair 320 · Accident during initial climb
From Warren County Memorial Airport (RNC) to Warren County Memorial Airport (RNC)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA10CA461
- 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
Yeager Inc. Lancair 320
- Aircraft type
- Yeager LANCAIR
- 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
- N320CY
- Operator
- Donald Yeager
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Warren County Memorial Airport (RNC), McMinnville, TNTo Warren County Memorial Airport (RNC), McMinnville, TN
- 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
- Miscellaneous/other
- 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 stated that he taxied to the runway for the purpose of performing a high speed taxi run. After an engine run-up, he latched the two canopy latches on the right side and scanned the instrument panel, noticing that the cylinder head temperature and oil temperature were rising. He stated that his attention was diverted in concern of the rising temperature and did not recall if he latched the two latches on the left side of the canopy. He started the takeoff roll and after becoming airborne, he noticed the canopy opening on the left side. The pilot attempted to latch the canopy, but realized it would take both hands, and continued to climb to pattern altitude while trimming the aircraft for better airspeed control. He then pulled the throttle back to slow the airspeed and attempted to latch the canopy. The canopy started flapping up and down, and when he tried to secure it shut with his hands he was not be able to control the airplane. He stated that debris was flying everywhere and the wind blew off his headset. When he realized that he was getting low he added full engine power and looked for a clear area; shortly thereafter the airplane collided with the ground.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to properly latch the cockpit canopy prior to takeoff, resulting in his diverted attention and failure to maintain aircraft control.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA10CA461
- Event ID
- 20100903X85554
- Case number
- ERA10CA461
- 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: 7dedb05c870dce440b97b524b5901aab901478d9b0e9f82eaad36ac1f5e318c0; retrieved 2026-09-15T15:05:55.280Z.