On July 3 of this year, a passerby noticed an aircraft nose down and standing vertically on the grounds of Sussex airport (CCY3) in New Brunswick. The pilot, who was the single occupant aboard the amateur-built Zenair STOL CH 750, was fatally injured.

In a report released last week, the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) conducted a short investigation into the incident. Some of the observations from the report are:

• The pilot had purchased the aircraft in September of 2017, and other than preforming some taxiing runs, had not flown it since then;
• The pilot had begun flight training in the month prior to purchasing the aircraft;
• He held only a student pilot permit, and had accumulated only 22.8 hours of total flight time, all with an instructor, all on a Cessna 172 and most of them in the initial three months of beginning his training;
• In June of this year, the pilot flew two hours (dual) on the same Cessna 172;
• No flight plan was filed, nor was anyone informed in advance of his flight;
• The ELT did not activate – it was found in the ‘OFF’ position.

On the day of the crash the weather was fine and the TSB investigators found no deficiencies in the aircraft, which was producing power at impact.

The complete TSB report can be found by clicking here.

Photo credits: TSB