First Flight Crash

[pelmet]

There is a high accident rate for first flights of homebuilt aircraft.....

C-GXIV, an amateur-built Vans RV-14A, was intending to conduct a maiden flight after
construction. The pilot made an initial attempt at take-off from Runway 17 at Calgary / Springbank
Airport (CYBW), AB. The pilot elected to abort the initial attempt due to lower than anticipated
aircraft performance during the take-off roll. The pilot then taxied back to the threshold of Runway
17 and a second attempt was made at 0724 MDT. The aircraft gained approximately 10-20 feet of
height during the initial portion of the take-off. The pilot elected to abort the take-off as aircraft
performance, once again, was lower than expected. The aircraft descended and contacted the
runway, nose landing gear first. The aircraft subsequently bounced back in the air and entered a
pilot induced oscillation drifting left of the runway paved surface. The aircraft descended and
impacted the grass area on the left side of Runway 17. The right main landing gear was broken
free from the aircraft, the nose landing gear collapsed, the prop contacted the ground, and all three
prop blades were broken off and the left main landing gear was folded back under the fuselage.
The forward fuselage sustained significant damage as well. The pilot received serious injuries but
was able to extract himself from the cockpit. There was no post-accident fire.


.....From TSB.