Amateur-built Venture accident near El Paso, Texas, September 28, 2006
On September 28, 2006 at about 9:50 pm local time, a amateur-built Venture, registered N5QE, was substantially damaged in an accident near El Paso, Texas (El Paso Intl airport). It was a personal flight under general aviation rules (Part 91). 1 person was killed. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
The aircraft's inadequate landing gear design, which resulted in a loss of directional control and subsequent nose-over. A factor was the owner/builder's failure to incorporate modifications to the landing gear.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 5, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- September 28, 2006 · about 9:50 pm local time
- Place
- El Paso, Texas · El Paso Intl
- Type
- Accident
- Injuries
- 1 person was killed.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Amateur-built Venture
- Registration
- N5QE · registry record · serial 54
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The amateur airplane nosed-over after landing on runway 22 (150-foot wide by 12,020-foot long asphalt runway). Witnesses reported that the airplane was reported to have either "jerked violently to the left" or "wobbled from side to side" upon touchdown. The airplane then continued to taxi down the runway for about 7,000 feet before the airplane nosed-over and came to rest in an inverted position on the runway. Correct air/oil ratio and strut inflation is critical for the proper operation of the landing gear strut. An improperly inflated strut reportedly result's in a "spongy" strut, which can aggravate directional control problems on the airplane. The original nose landing gear consists of a strut with a single-rod steering system and the design is absent gear scissors and/or a shimmy damper. A recommendation issued for the prevention of nose wheel shimming recommends for pilots to "lower the nose tire promptly, and keep it on the ground with forward stick pressure if necessary." The kit manufacturer offers an optional kit to upgrade the main gear strut air/oil ratio, making the strut more "rigid." The landing gear arrangement on the accident airplane was the original configuration, except a small spring had been added to the steering fork and a hydraulic operating steering system, activated by a switch on the control stick, had been added by the builder. However, a scissor-link/shimmy dampener was not added. In addition, the builder had not incorporated the addition of a canopy frame or a rollover bar. The main landing gear struts were also reported to be inflated to about one-and-a-half inches, instead of the recommended three-eighths to one-half inch of extension.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: flight instructor, commercial pilot
- Ratings: multi-engine land; single-engine land; instructor: airplane multi-engine; instructor: airplane single-engine; instructor: instrument airplane; instrument: airplane; rotorcraft: glider
- Flight time: 5,000 hours in all
- Medical certificate: Class 3 (without waivers/limitations)
- Seat: left
- Injury: fatal
The aircraft
- Last inspection: inspection type not recorded
- Seats: 2
- Landing gear: retractable
- Engine: Continental IO-550 (piston); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: TKI Mc Kinney TX
- Destination: ELP El Paso TX
- Flight plan: not recorded
- Runway 22, 12,020 ft by 150 ft
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: at 4 knots
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: a few clouds at 8,000 ft
- Temperature: 81°F (27°C), dew point 46°F (8°C)
- Altimeter: 30.14 inHg
- Observation at 9:51 pm from ELP
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 1 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
Everything on this page comes from the NTSB's public records. The narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words; the coded tables behind the report are written out in plain English, with pilots' ages, home towns and medical details left out. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, shown as the NTSB released them. This site's own text never names anyone involved. A preliminary report can change; the final report usually follows one to two years later, and the page is refreshed when it does.