20000505007339A

(-23) On may 5, 2000, at 1030 hours PDT, a Beech 65-90, N32229, becam entangled with a deployed parachute north of China Lake, California. The aircraft substained substantial damage and one crewmember received serious injuries. The pilot, co-pilot, and second crewmember were not injured. The aircraft was being operated as a public-use flight by aerospace equipment research organization, under 14 CFR part 91 at the time of the accident. The flight originated from armitage field, naval air warfare center, China Lake, California, about 1000. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time amd a military VFR flight plan was filed. The accident sequence was filmed by several video cameras from different angles and perspectives, and safety board investigators reviewed the footage. The crew was in the process if conducting an experimental parachute test with a 331-pound anthropomorphic dummy that was rigged with a main and reserve parachute. While stabilized at 200,000 feet MSL and 180 knots, the two crewmembers in the back of the aircraft positioned the dummy at the open cabin door. The static line was attached to a ring that, in turn. Was secured by a line to the left out board seat track, about 1-foot forward of the doorway. One crewmember crouched behind the dummy while the second knelt just foward of the open door with his hands on the static line. As the dummy clearded the doorway, the pilot chute from the main parachute deployed. This was immediately followed by the deployment of the drogue chute. The drogue chute cleared the top of the left horizontal stabilizer while the dummy fell below. Initially, the dummy trailed behind the left elevator but as the drogue chute fully inflated, the dummy was drawn back underneath the horizontal stabilizer. As the oscillations increased in magnitude, the stabilizer began to separating at about midspan, folding back on top of itself. At nearly the same moment, the soft link for the deployment of the main parachute separated and the chute deployed. Almost simultaneously, the drogue chute lines sparated and the dummy fell freely from the aircraft as the main canopy opened. As the dummy became entangled on the left horizontal stabilizer, the aircraft made an uncommanded noseover into a negative g arc. The crouching crewmember was thrown about the cabin while the kneeling crewmember held onto the stati c line. As the dummy fell away, the aircraft pitched up and began an uncommanded roll to the right, stopping in a fully inverted attitude. The aircraft initially nosed forward and then began a slow roll to the left, stabilizing in level attitude. The pilot then returned to the airport and landed without further incident. An inspection of the aircraft after the accident revealed that the static line had been shortened from 14 feet 6 inches to 7 feet 9 inches. Measurements from the static line attachment point further revealed that the static line was in tension with the dummy in the aircraft doorway. The installation aviation safety officer had been informed by test personnel that the static line had been intentionally shorted. This was due to an incident during a previous test in which a pin at the end of the static line had become lodged in the left elevator hinge.