- Date
- January 9, 1989, 09:01 local (14:01 UTC)
- Place
- Wilmington, OH
- Injuries
- 2 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N6YSwearingen SX-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 1, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890109000349A
- Case key
- 8075
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Fatigue and resulting failure of the right wing's lower attachment fitting and inadequate quality control by the swearingen SX-300 production/design personnel.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
This SX-300 (SA-29) was a proof-of-concept acft being demonstrated for the USAF at wright-patterson afb. The acft was cleared to restricted area R5503 at 8000 ft for a demonstration. Radio communications with indianapolis ARTCC were routine; there were no distress transmissions. About 7 minutes after takeoff the acft was involved in an inflight breakup. The wreckage path was about 1 mile in length with the rt wing 3000 feet from the main wreckage. The rt wing lower attachment fitting exhibited a fatigue area which progressed to failure from a weld nugget near the intersection of two weld beads. Pre-existing cracks were also present in the lug weld area of the left wing upper and lower attach- ment fittings. The acft had been in svc 571 hrs. It was certified as an experimental category exhibition acft. The designer had static load tested the wings to 6 g's & suspected the acft had been subjected to flt loads apchg 6 g's. the plt told an acquaintance that he had routinely exceeded the 'red line' by 85 mph.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6Y
- Reported as
- Swearingen SX-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 001
- Airframe hours
- 571
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-L1C5, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Part 91
- Registered owner
- Jafftech Industries, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 24, 1988 · 87 hours before
- Departed
- FFO · Dayton, OH
- Flight plan
- IFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 55
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 7,754 total · 145 in this make and model · 30 in the last 90 days · 22 in the last 30 days · 5 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 12,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 25 °F, dew point 16 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- FFO, 18 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.