GAA18CA215 · Page Russell L LONG EZ
Page Russell L LONG EZ · Accident: loss of visual reference on approach
From Wakefield Municipal Airport (AKQ) to Wakefield Municipal Airport (AKQ)
Event
- NTSB case
- GAA18CA215
- 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
Page Russell L LONG EZ
- Aircraft type
- Page Russell LONG EZ
- 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
- N27RP
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Wakefield Municipal Airport (AKQ), Wakefield, VATo Wakefield Municipal Airport (AKQ), Wakefield, VA
- Aircraft age
- About 31 years (built 1987)
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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 visual reference
- 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 structures
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
According to the pilot in the experimental, amateur-built airplane, during takeoff climb about 200 ft above ground level (agl), the airplane's canopy fully opened. The pilot immediately turned downwind and eventually turned final about 200 ft agl. He reported that his vision was impaired by the wind and that he misjudged the airplane's position to the runway. The airplane struck a 10-ft-tall fence that was about 70 ft from the approach end of the runway. The pilot was able to land on the runway, and the airplane skidded to a stop.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and the right wing.
The first item in the Before Takeoff checklist stated:
Emergency Canopy access door – closed/locked.
The last item in the Before Takeoff checklist stated:
Canopy – Locked – visually confirm proper latch and safety engagement
According to the In-flight Canopy Opening checklist emergency procedure,
Should the canopy come fully open 90° in flight immediately grab the canopy/rail handle and pull the canopy down. Be sure to maintain aircraft control. The aircraft is controllable and can be landed safely with the canopy being held down against the fingers. Remember to maintain aircraft control. Do not be so concerned with closing the canopy that you allow the aircraft to fly unnecessarily into the ground.
The pilot noted that the accident could have been prevented by not deviating from the Before Takeoff checklist.
The pilot reported that there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to secure the canopy before flight, which resulted in the airplane striking a fence during the approach. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to follow the Before Takeoff checklist and In-flight Canopy Opening checklist emergency procedure.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record GAA18CA215
- Event ID
- 20180416X10153
- Case number
- GAA18CA215
- 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: 8a520a8748cdfaf6dfa5058154ea8a1f7be118867bc7d1abf33e8adbe2adf3f1; retrieved 2026-09-16T06:50:25.572Z.