19990425003929A

On April 25, 1999, about 1300 eastern daylight time, a homebuilt sonerai 11-L, N56RA, was destroyed after an in-flight breakup and susequent impacted with terrain near Eastford, Connecticut. The certified private pilot was fatally injured. Visual meteorological condition prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight conducted under 14 CFR part 91, that departed fitchburg municipal airport, fitchburg, Massachusetts, about 1230. A witness saw the pilot at windom airport, willimatic, Connecticut, ABOUT0900, getting ready to mount the wings of his airplane. He walked up to the accident pilot, and they had a general conversation for a couple of minutes. During the conversation the accident pilot stated he would be conducting some high altitude, true airspeed tests that day. They separated and the witness went to an eaa (experimental aircraft owner association) breakfast meeting, and the accident pilot boarded his airplane taxied to runway 27 and departed. Approximately 1 hour later the witness returned to the airport and saw the accident airplane parked by the fuel pumps. After watching the accident pilot taxied his airplane back to his trailer, the two men had second conversation. During the short conversation the two men decided to fly to fitchburg for breakfast. Both the witness and the accident pilot departed in two separate airplanes, and conducted separate flights to the destination. They both arrived at fitchburg about 1130, and proceeded to have breakfast at a local restaurant. After breakfast, the accident pilot stated he was going to fly to orange, Massachusetts to check on the status of a recently completed experimental homebuilt. The two men parted company, and the accident pilot departed fitchburg via runway 32. There was no further reported contact with the pilot after that point. A witness working in his yard, approximately 50 yars from the accident site, stated that he saw the airplane coming towards him "a little over tree length." The airplane then started to do "some tricks." The airplane did about 10 "tricks", consisting of "sharp turns so that the wings of the plane were straight up and down," and "a roll to the right." During the final maneuver the witness saw the airplane turn "quickly to the left." "As the airplane went left, the right wing which was up in the air came flying off. Seconds later, the lef t wing also came off." Another witness added that "..the engine ran up to the crash. The engine did not sound abnormal." The accident site was divided into three locations, right wing, left wing, and main wreckage. The right wing marked the start of the debris path and was located approx. 370 feet south of the main wreckage. The left wing was located approx. 200 feet south of the main wreckage. The main wreckage, which consisted of the impennage, cockpit, and engine area, was located in a grassy field approx. 50 feet to the west of a residental street. The only visible damage to the top of the right wing was a compression wrinkle that started on the aileron, 3 feet outboard of the wing root, and ended at the wing root, 1 foot 4 inches aft of the leading edge. Visible damage to the bottom of the right wing was isolated to two areas. The first area was located 3 inches outboard of the wing root and on the undersurface of the leading edge. The damage in this was consistent with compression, and had a surface area of approx. 25 square inches. The second area was located at the wing root and on the trailing edge. The damage in this area was consistent with impact, and occupi ed an area of approx. 15 square inches. Damage to the top of the left wing was isolated to the four corners of the wing. The first area was on the leading edge at the wing root. This area was comprised of damage consistent with impact, and had a surface area of 255 square iches. The second area was also on the leading edge but located at the wingtip. In this area, the sheet metal that comprised the wingtip was separated from the leading edge to a point 1 foot 6 inches aft. The third area was located at the wing tip's trailing edge. This damage was consistent with impact and occupied an area of approx. 80 square inches. Within this same area, the outboard tip of the aileron was bent down approx. 2 inches. The third and final area was located at the wing root's trailing edge, and consisted of small dents that covered an area of approx. 25 square inches. The horizonal stabilizer and elevator showed no visible signs of damage. The vertical stabilizer's top 4 inches were bent to the right 20 degrees, and the rudder was undamaged. The structure from the empennage to the fire wall was present but damage consistent with impact compression, and torsion made identification diffic ult. The main landing gear was attached to the fuselage just aft of the fire wall, and the fire wall with engine, formed the last major piece of the wreckage. The wooden propeller had separated from the engine. The carburetor separated from the engine 1/4 of an inch upstream of the throttle plate. The from two cylinders were bent aft, and dirt was imbedded in their cooling fins. Both the left and right magnetos separated from the accessory gear box. The starter, and ring gear had also separated from the engine. The spar box and associated fracture surfaces for both wings were examined at the accident site. Welds on the spar box were consistent with gas welding, and approx. 1 1/2 inches of welds were consistent with a cold weld. The spar box was fractured and separated into approximately two equal pieces. One piece remained attached to the left wing's spar, and the other to the right wing's spar. On the left top portion of the spar box, a fracture surface that originated at a weld joint displayed signs consistent with a cold weld. Also this fracture surface displayed an orange substance consistent with rust. (.4) after having breakfast with a friend, the pilot departed. No one else reported seeing him or the airplane until a witness, approximately 50 yards from the accident site, saw the airplane a little over tree top level. While staying in the vicinity of the accident site, the airplane conducted several aerobatic maneuvers. Then, while in a steep turn to the left, the right wing separated, and then the left. The engine continued to run until ground impact. Examination of fractures surfaces on the spar-box revealed cold welds, and corrosion. (-23) pilot was observed doing loops and did a slow roll. Witnesses said they heard a loud "pop" and saw wings separate from aircraft, then the aircraft impacted the ground.