ERA16CA259 · Hirn Associates Ltd ZODIAC CH601XL
Hirn Associates Ltd ZODIAC CH601XL · Accident: loss of control in flight during takeoff
From Green Landings Airport (WV22) to Green Landings Airport (WV22)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA16CA259
- 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
Hirn Associates Ltd ZODIAC CH601XL
- Aircraft type
- Hirn Associates ZODIAC CH601XL
- 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
- N650WP
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Green Landings Airport (WV22), Hedgesville, WVTo Green Landings Airport (WV22), Hedgesville, WV
- Aircraft age
- About 5 years (built 2011)
- 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
- Takeoff
- 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
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- 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 systems
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot of the experimental, amateur-built airplane reported that, during the takeoff roll while about 35 knots, he realized that he forgot to turn on the airplane's anticollision lights. He reached over to turn them on, and his forearm brushed across the top of the control stick and activated the electric trim to a full, nose-up position. The airplane suddenly climbed in a steep, nose-high attitude to about 60 ft before it started to roll left toward trees. As the airplane rolled left, the pilot attempted to compensate with right rudder and aileron input, but it had little effect on directional control, so he chose to turn back to the left and try to climb over the trees. The airplane impacted the top of the tree canopy then descended through the trees and impacted the ground. The wings and fuselage were substantially damaged. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
The pilot’s inadvertent activation of the elevator trim, which resulted in a premature takeoff and subsequent loss of airplane control and collision with trees.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA16CA259
- Event ID
- 20160718X40715
- Case number
- ERA16CA259
- 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: 94c823a4e2c056b20f9a18b55a199f0d5a08626fceca4fda86cc3e8b332d4aa2; retrieved 2026-09-16T03:40:03.151Z.