WPR18LA071 · Six Chuter Spirit
Six Chuter Spirit and Destiny XLT · Accident: midair collision en route
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR18LA071
- 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
Aircraft 1 · Six Chuter Spirit
- Aircraft type
- Six Chuter SPIRIT
- Category
- Powered Parachute
- 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
- UNREG
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Marana, AZTo Marana, AZ
- Aircraft age
- About 10 years (built 2008)
- 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
- En route
- 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
- Midair collision
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Aircraft 2 · Destiny XLT
- Aircraft type
- Destiny XLT
- Category
- Powered Parachute
- 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
- UNREG
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Marana, AZTo Marana, AZ
- 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
- En route
- 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
- Midair collision
- 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
- Personnel issues › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
Two noncertificated pilots were conducting personal, local flights in their powered parachutes, one of which was a Six Chuter Spirit and the other of which was a Destiny XLT. The Six Chuter departed, followed by the Destiny. The Six Chuter pilot reported that, while cruising about 100 ft above ground level, he saw the Destiny on a northerly heading. At this time, he decided to maintain his altitude and heading and follow the Destiny because he was less experienced than the other pilot. However, he then saw the Destiny turn to a westerly heading, which put the Destiny on a direct path toward the Six Chuter. Seconds later, the Destiny impacted the Six Chuter, which then spun 180° and drifted backward while descending until ground impact. The Destiny entered a nose-down attitude and then rapidly descended without its parachute until ground impact. The Destiny pilot reported that he was unable to recall the accident details. A ground witness stated that both aircraft were in straight-and level-flight and that the engines sounded normal before impact. Although the sun was setting at the time of the accident, the investigation could not determine if it obstructed the Destiny pilot's vision or whether it was a factor in the accident. Both pilots reported that they their aircraft did not experience any mechanical anomalies during their flights. Based on the available information, it is likely that both pilots failed to maintain an adequate visual lookout, which resulted in a midair collision.
Probable cause
The noncertificated pilots’ failure to maintain an adequate visual lookout, which resulted in a midair collision.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR18LA071
- Event ID
- 20180119X02802
- Case number
- WPR18LA071
- 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: local date, investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 2018-01-19.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 464bc2fba6c68b7be8de35f5a108fbee20a693987386be7a2c42babc491c0858; retrieved 2026-09-13T18:28:42.402Z.