Amateur-built KITFOX N915KF accident near Orlando, Florida

Probable cause

An inadvertent encounter with the jet blast of another airplane while taxiing, which resulted in substantial damage to the airplane’s left wing.

NTSB analysis

The pilot was taxiing for departure at a large international airport. As he taxied from the ramp toward the taxiway that he had been cleared to take to the departure runway, the right wing of his airplane lifted. The airplane’s left wing then contacted the ground, and the airplane began to slide across the ground. In a statement following the accident, the pilot described that he had inadvertently taxied into the jet blast of an airplane that was about 500 feet away, which he was unable to see because his view was obscured by another large airplane parked on the ramp. The pilot subsequently shut his airplane’s engine down, exited the airplane, and tried to hold its wing down and keep it from contacting the ground again. He described that the jet blast made it difficult to keep the airplane from tipping over again and that he was lifted in the air several times as he tried to hold the right wing down. After serval minutes, several individuals assisted the pilot with moving the airplane out of the jet blast. The airplane’s left wing spar was substantially damaged during the accident.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA23LA116 for the full record.