Air Creation GTE accident near Springville, Utah, June 14, 2010

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

The non-certified pilot purchased the weight-shift category light sport airplane approximately 3 months prior to the accident and was departing on his first flight when the accident occurred. A family member reported that the pilot had flown non-motorized hang gliders 40 years prior to the accident, and he had not obtained instruction in the airplane prior to departing on the solo flight. Witnesses observed the airplane, which resembled a powered hang glider, accelerate and takeoff from an open school yard. Immediately after it got airborne, it impacted telephone and power lines that ran along a road at the end of the school yard. An amateur video recording of the accident flight depicted a red and white motorized hang glider accelerate across a schoolyard baseball field, get airborne and, 2 seconds later, impact residential telephone and power cables. The airplane rotated violently around the power lines and came to rest on the street below. The engine could be heard operating until the airplane’s collision with the power lines. The power lines are estimated to have been approximately 35 feet above the ground. While toxicology testing was consistent with relatively recent use of two separate narcotic painkillers and one prescription anti-anxiety medication, the toxicology findings were not consistent with impairment by any of the medications at the time of the accident.

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.