Sportstar N411EV accident near St Charles, Missouri

Probable cause

The student pilot's failure to maintain control due to his task saturation as a result of his failure to set the pitch trim to the neutral position before takeoff.

NTSB analysis

After taking off, and at about 75 to 100 feet above the runway, the airplane had a sudden pitch down and the student pilot had to pull back on the control stick to maintain control of the airplane. He continued to have difficulty with pitch control as he maneuvered the airplane back to land at the airport, but was unable to simultaneously reduce engine power and maintain control of the airplane. During the landing the airplane touched down hard at a higher-than-normal airspeed with the engine still operating near full power. The student pilot lost directional control and the airplane exited the left side of the runway before nosing over in the grass. An examination of the airplane by Federal Aviation Administration inspectors revealed that the pitch trim was in the full nose-down position. No other anomaly was detected in the airframe or the engine. The pilot later said he didn’t even think about the elevator trim and it was possible that he had taken off with the elevator trim at the wrong setting.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for DFW08LA209 for the full record.