WPR10LA462 · Cosmos PHASE II
Cosmos PHASE II · Accident: loss of control on ground while standing
From El Mirage, CA (private airstrip) to El Mirage, CA (private airstrip)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR10LA462
- 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
Cosmos PHASE II
- Aircraft type
- Cosmos PHASE
- Category
- Weight-Shift
- 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
- N56078
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From El Mirage, CA (private airstrip)To El Mirage, CA (private airstrip)
- 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
- Standing · engine(s) start-up
- 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 on ground
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A witness reported that the non-certificated pilot's normal procedure was to start the engine while seated in the weight-shift-control trike. Once started, he would then exit while the engine warmed up, and put on his helmet and glasses. On the day of the accident, the pilot was seated and unrestrained in the aircraft, with the gust lock installed, and appeared to be having difficulty starting the engine. He then moved the throttle to the full forward position and attempted a restart. This time the engine started, and immediately accelerated to high power. The aircraft then accelerated forward, rotated, and began a steep climb followed by a stall and uncontrolled descent to the ground. Throughout the maneuver the pilot appeared to be struggling to stay within the aircraft. The engine manufacturer's instructions specified that the throttle control should be set to the idle position during engine startup. Additionally, the manual stated that the operator should be able to operate the engine controls instinctively at startup, and be in a position to turn off the ignition switch instantly if necessary. No anomalies were noted with the throttle control, which was observed in the full open position. The pilot did not use wheel chocks to secure the trike prior to engine start.
Probable cause
The pilot's improper preflight and starting procedures, which resulted in an inadvertent takeoff with the gust lock still installed.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR10LA462
- Event ID
- 20100920X21917
- Case number
- WPR10LA462
- 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: 626bcef68e95e27af53182258ba7b57df3c7c8e395e7dd5ed555cd9e3a3c86c6; retrieved 2026-09-13T21:03:43.673Z.