GAA17CA536 · Menzimer Gary RAY FIRESTAR II

The pilot of the experimental amateur-built airplane reported in a written statement that he had recently purchased the accident airplane, and upon receiving it, he completed numerous taxi runs in a straight line but did not attempt to take off due to poor weather. He added that the airplane was hard to taxi in a straight line. He further reported that, days later, with improved weather, he decided to complete a "test flight."

He reported that, during the initial climb, the airplane "immediately started to drift to the left," and as the airplane continued to climb, the airplane "continued to make a left turn." He added that he applied right rudder and aileron and increased the power from 1/2 to 3/4 full but that the airplane continued to the left. He reported that he flew in the local area for about 20 minutes and could not resolve the left turning issue and that he was then concerned about the remaining fuel quantity, so he attempted to land at his private airstrip. He reported that he attempted two approaches, but the airplane continued turning to the left toward trees, and he performed go-arounds. During the third approach, he decided he would attempt to "touch down as quickly as possible," but during the landing flare, the airplane continued to the left and impacted trees.

The airplane was destroyed.

The pilot reported, "after replaying the accident in my mind, I decided that when I was doing my test taxiing, I might have been introvertly [sic] pressing the left trim button on the control stick. I might have done this several times which resulted in the crash."

The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.

The pilot did not submit the NTSB Form 6120.1 Pilot/ Operator Aircraft Accident/ Incident Report. He also did not report that he had received any recent flight training.

A Federal Aviation Administration aviation safety inspector reported that he located the electric rudder trim switch on top of the control stick and observed the rudder trim servo in the full-left-trim position. He further reported that the accident airplane was unregistered because the registration certificate had lapsed. He reported that the pilot, who was also the owner of the airplane, was required to renew the registration certificate. He added that the pilot reported to him that he had not flown as pilot-in-command for 20 years.

A technical representative for the experimental airplane kit manufacturer reported that the original kit design did not include electric trim for any flight control surfaces.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset