- Date
- July 3, 2022, 07:10 local (11:10 UTC)
- Place
- Sebring, FL
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N6272ZArnold J/Jones D L AIR CAM
- Defining event
- Landing-flare/touchdown: Hard landing
- 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
- Lockwood Aviation, FAA FSDO
- FAA report
- 20220703013239A
- Case key
- 105425
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 loss of control during landing.
Findings · 2
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 private pilot entered the base leg of the airport traffic pattern for landing, then he turned left onto the final leg of the airport traffic pattern, with no reported discrepancies of the aileron flight control system at this time. He “overshot” the extended runway centerline and reported the airplane was low. Airport surveillance video depicted the outer portion of the right wing impacting the ground. The pilot further indicated, “…he was not ready…” for the first touchdown and bounced a couple feet adding that the airplane touched down, “hard”, resulting in the right main landing gear wheel separating. He knew the airplane was right of the runway centerline, so he added full throttle to go-around reporting both engines responded. During the go-around he could not raise the right wing despite left aileron and rudder input. Surveillance video captured the airplane completing nearly a right 720º turn while climbing and then descending. The airplane impacted the runway while in a nose and right wing-low attitude and rolled inverted resulting in substantial damage to the right wing, cockpit, and nose section of the airplane. Postaccident examination of the flight control system for pitch and yaw by an inspector from the Federal Aviation Administration revealed control continuity with no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction. Examination of the roll flight control system revealed a rod end for an aileron pushrod inside the right wing exhibited bending overload with no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction; no other separations were noted. Since there were no reported issues while banking left prior to the first touchdown, it is likely that the aileron flight control system was damaged as a result of the right wing contact during the first touchdown, which resulted in an uncommanded right roll that the pilot could not correct.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6272Z
- Reported as
- Arnold J/Jones D L AIR CAM (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- AC014
- Built
- 1999
- Airframe hours
- 649
- Engines
- Rotax 582, 65 horsepower, reciprocatingRotax 582, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 15, 2022 · 10.6 hours before
- Departed
- 03FA · Lake Placid, FL
- Destination
- Same as departure
- Airport
- SEF · Sebring Rgnl, runway 1, 5,234 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS
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
- 60
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- BasicMed, Without waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- June 13, 2022
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 350 total · 50 in this make and model · 35 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 79 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.10 inHg
- Observed at
- KSEF, 1 nm away
- METAR
- KSEF 031155Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR 27/26 A3010 RMK AO2 T02660262 10267 20231 70001
Docket · 10
The files NTSB released with the investigation on February 14, 2023, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 13.9 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.