WPR20LA196 · Kostrazewa Andre Sonex Light Sport
Kostrazewa Andre Sonex Light Sport · Accident: aerodynamic stall/spin on approach
From Skypark Airport (BTF) to Skypark Airport (BTF)
Event
- NTSB case
- WPR20LA196
- 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
- 2 · 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
Kostrazewa Andre Sonex Light Sport
- Aircraft type
- Kostrazewa Andre SONEX LIGHT SPORT
- 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
- N620AK
- Operator
- Jason Sorensen
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Skypark Airport (BTF), Bountiful, UTTo Skypark Airport (BTF), Bountiful, UT
- Aircraft age
- About 2 years (built 2018)
- 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 base
- 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
- Aerodynamic stall/spin
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
- Not determined › Not determined
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A resident who lived near the accident site observed the airplane flying at a “normal altitude” from west to east. Shortly thereafter, he heard a “backfiring” sound and watched the airplane until it flew out of sight; he did not observe the accident. Dash cam video of the accident sequence captured the airplane coming into view traveling from north to south at a low altitude. The airplane then entered a descending right 180° turn, in what appeared to be a normal bank attitude. As the airplane proceeded through 90° of the right turn, the bank angle increased significantly. Shortly thereafter, the airplane impacted terrain in a nose- and right-wing-low attitude, consistent with an aerodynamic stall. The airplane burst into flames, which resulted in the forward cabin/cockpit area being consumed by fire.
The accident location was about 300 ft east of what appeared to be the approach end of an abandoned/reclaimed runway that was oriented north-south, and the airplane’s flightpath prior to the accident was consistent with a downwind approach and a right turn to base and final approach for a forced landing on a suitable surface.
The airplane was occupied by the owner-pilot and a pilot-rated passenger. The pilot/owner was not authorized to act as pilot-in-command; however, the investigation could not determine which pilot was controlling the airplane at the time of the accident.
A postaccident examination of the airframe and engine did not reveal any mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. The airplane was operating in weather conditions conducive to the formation of carburetor icing at cruise and glide power settings; however, the investigation could not determine if a partial or total loss of engine power had occurred prior to the airplane impacting terrain. The accident is consistent with the pilot exceeding the airplane’s critical angle of attack during an attempted forced landing, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and impact with terrain.
Probable cause
The pilot flying’s exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack during an attempted forced landing, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and impact with terrain. The reason for the attempted forced landing could not be determined.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record WPR20LA196
- Event ID
- 20200625X00253
- Case number
- WPR20LA196
- 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, cause areas. 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: 6851436f8cfee0a0d4c055abe1363a37c815268cc4d427ae26bfdebb2e6ec184; retrieved 2026-09-15T07:16:31.348Z.