CEN19LA316 · Infinity Powered Parachutes IPP2
Infinity Powered Parachutes IPP2 · Accident: low altitude operation/event while maneuvering
From Eustace, TX to Eustace, TX
Event
- NTSB case
- CEN19LA316
- 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
Infinity Powered Parachutes IPP2
- Aircraft type
- Infinity Powered Parachutes IPP2
- 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
- N6035L
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Eustace, TXTo Eustace, TX
- Aircraft age
- About 17 years (built 2002)
- 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
- Maneuvering · low-altitude flying
- 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
- Low altitude operation/event
- 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
- Wire
- 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
- Environmental issues › Physical environment
- Personnel issues › Psychological
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
Witnesses observed the powered parachute (PPC) flying about 10 to 15 ft above trees and power lines and said the pilot appeared to be in control of the PPC, the parachute canopy appeared “full,” and there did not appear to be any mechanical issues.
One of the witnesses, who was a neighbor to the pilot, reported observing the PPC fly over his property and then turn south and disappear from his view. He reported it sounded like the pilot tried to apply additional power to the engine and there were two "snapping sounds" followed by the sound of an impact. He responded to the accident site and observed a wire wrapped around the pilot and the cart. None of the witnesses observed the accident occur.
Postaccident examination of the PPC revealed no anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The PPC had an adequate amount of fuel onboard. Wreckage signatures were consistent with a wire strike. It is likely the pilot failed to maintain clearance from a wire during the low-level flight, which resulted in a wire strike and an impact with terrain.
Medical evidence showed that the pilot's risk of impairment and incapacitation was elevated due to heart disease, prior stroke, and prescription opioid use but did not establish whether he was impaired or incapacitated. There was no operational evidence that the pilot lost control of the PPC or that it was unusual for him to fly so low in the vicinity of hazards. Thus, whether medical factors contributed to the accident could not be determined. The accident is consistent with the pilot failing to see and avoid a power line while flying at a low altitude.
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to see and avoid a power line. Contributing was the pilot’s decision to fly at an altitude too low to avoid obstacles.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CEN19LA316
- Event ID
- 20190912X21831
- Case number
- CEN19LA316
- 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: 7e249c9c431a0849b2eb5222dcf9203163779fabed9ecbfdcb9428f0e9d82c3c; retrieved 2026-09-15T07:05:24.584Z.