Incident Overview
During cruise flight, the pilot placed the aircraft into a dive to avoid what appeared to be the landing light of another aircraft. The light was actually a space vehicle that had just been launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, located approximately 60 miles from the aircraft's position. The pilot's evasive maneuver caused the aircraft to exceed its structural limitations, resulting in damage to the tail surfaces. After regaining level flight, the damaged tail surfaces began to flutter.
Emergency Landing
Following the onset of tail surface flutter, the pilot executed an emergency landing in a field. During the landing, the aircraft struck a fence post, causing the nose to pitch up. The impact collapsed the nose landing gear.
Damage
The aircraft sustained damage to its tail surfaces due to exceeding flight limitations during the dive. The nose landing gear collapsed as a result of striking the fence post during the emergency landing. No further damage was reported.