- Date
- March 22, 2021, 17:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Doylestown, PA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N220JDSonex Waiex
- Defining event
- Takeoff: Part(s) separation from AC
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20210322021189A
- Case key
- 104789
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
The pilot’s failure to maintain a proper glidepath during landing. Contributing to the accident was his failure to ensure the canopy locks were properly configured prior to flight.
Findings · 5
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot stated that he was performing maintenance on his airplane and running the engine at full throttle to verify the exhaust gas temperature was within limits. He said that after the last adjustment and anticipating another adjustment, he only latched the canopy enough to keep it in place while performing a test run on the ground. After the test run was performed, the pilot departed without properly securing the canopy. Shortly after takeoff, the canopy was “ripped off” the airplane and while returning to the runway, the approach was too low and the airplane contacted trees on short final. The airplane landed short of the runway and did “two pancakes” resulting in substantial damaged to the fuselage, and firewall. The pilot further stated there were no mechanical failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation prior to the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N220JD
- Reported as
- Sonex Waiex
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- WXB0029
- Built
- 2019
- Airframe hours
- 8
- Engine
- Sonex AeroVee Turbo, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Airport
- DYL · Doylestown Airport, runway 5, 3,000 × 60 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Electronic multifunction display, Electronic flight bag or handheld device, Angle of attack indicator, ADS-B
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
- 72
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- October 14, 2020
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 94 total · 6 in this make and model · 40 as pilot in command · 0 in the last 90 days · 0 in the last 30 days · 0 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 150° at 5 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 63 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.28 inHg
- Observed at
- DYL
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 5, 2022, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 3.9 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.