History of Flight
On May 21, 2010, about 1500 Eastern Daylight Time, an experimental amateur-built Long EZ, registration N91HR, was substantially damaged during an attempted landing at Wakefield Municipal Airport (AKQ), Wakefield, Virginia. The certificated private pilot was fatally injured. The flight operated under 14 CFR Part 91 and originated from Altoona-Blair County Airport (AOO), Altoona, Pennsylvania, with a reported intended destination of Suffolk Executive Airport (SFQ), Suffolk, Virginia. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed.
A pilot who landed at AKQ about 10 minutes earlier witnessed the accident. He estimated the wind from the east at about 8 knots, blowing directly across the runway. He observed the accident airplane approach from the northwest, make a mid-field left turn to track along the runway to the northeast at traffic pattern altitude, then execute a teardrop pattern to align for runway 20. The witness reported the airplane overshot its turn to final due to wind, then began a left 360-degree turn for another approach. After completing that turn, the airplane was still northwest of the extended centerline. When closer to the threshold at about 500 feet agl, the airplane banked sharply right in what appeared a third attempt to align, described as a skidding turn in a nose-high attitude with noticeable sink rate. The nose dropped as the airplane rolled right, and the right wingtip and nose struck the ground first in an open field adjacent to airport property, then cartwheeled across a road onto airport property near the approach end of runway 20.
Personnel Information
FAA records indicated the pilot held a private pilot certificate with an airplane single-engine land rating and a repairman certificate for the accident airplane. On his July 2006 FAA medical certificate application, he reported 3,600 total flight hours, including 50 hours in the prior 6 months. No further records of his experience in the accident airplane make and model or of his most recent flight review were located. The pilot's daughter reported he flew the accident airplane several times a week up to the accident.
Aircraft Information
The Long EZ was a canard-equipped kit-built airplane of composite construction with two-place tandem seating, tricycle landing gear with retractable nose gear, and a pusher propeller. FAA records showed the pilot built the airplane, which received an airworthiness certificate in 1995. It was equipped with a Lycoming O-235 series engine and a two-blade fixed-pitch wood propeller, plus an autopilot. No maintenance records were located.
Meteorological Information
The 1454 automated weather observation at AKQ included variable winds at 4 knots, visibility 10 miles, clear skies, temperature 28°C, dew point 8°C, and altimeter 30.13 inches of mercury. At the time, the sun's elevation was 56 degrees above the horizon with azimuth 243 degrees true. The 1500 observation at SFQ included winds from 120° at 9 knots, visibility 10 miles, clear skies, temperature 28°C.
Airport Information
AKQ was a public-use airport at elevation 113 feet msl with a single asphalt runway 3,337 feet by 75 feet. Runway 20 alignment was 197° true, 203 magnetic. Published information indicated left-hand traffic for runway 20. Visual slope indication panels on the left side of runway 20 indicated a 3-degree glide path. No control tower; a Unicom frequency was available. SFQ, about 25 miles southeast, had two runways: 4/22 (5,009 x 100 feet) and 7/25 (4,706 x 100 feet), also uncontrolled.
Wreckage and Impact Information
The debris path was approximately 150 feet long oriented along a magnetic heading of about 220°. The airplane first contacted a cornfield across a road from the threshold of runway 20, then struck an earthen berm. Fragments of the right wingtip and canopy transparency were earliest in the debris. Dislodged earth and fragments were distributed across the road. A metal post in a fence was bent in the direction of travel. Most debris came to rest on airport property in the grassy area west of the taxiway at the approach end.
The right wing was fracture-separated from the fuselage; the left wing remained attached and came to rest upright facing back along the debris path. All flight control surfaces remained attached. Control system anomalies were collocated with fracture locations. The fuselage nose section was fracture-separated at the front seat station. The canopy frame and transparency were fractured. Numerous small fragments and paper items were scattered.
The propeller remained attached to the engine, which remained attached to the engine mount, but the mount separated from the fuselage. The propeller, engine, and mount were under the main fuselage segment, only attached by cables and hoses. One propeller blade was fracture-separated from the hub.
The airplane had two integral fuel tanks, each placarded 24 gallons. The right tank was breached with no fuel observed; a small area of blighted grass was nearby. The left tank was intact and contained about 12 gallons of blue aviation gasoline, clear with no water. The carburetor inlet line was disconnected; fuel was observed in the carburetor bowl.
The fuel selector valve was completely separated and found set to the right tank. The cockpit mixture control was in full rich, throttle at idle. The Hobbs hour meter registered 132.9 hours.
Two handheld GPS units were recovered: a Garmin GPSMap 196 (aviation) and a Garmin NUVI (non-aviation). They were retained for data download.
Medical and Pathological Information
The pilot's most recent FAA third-class medical certificate was issued July 2006, valid for 2 years. Shortly after, the FAA requested additional documentation; in September 2008, for at least two unrelated reasons including suspected dementia, the FAA withdrew the pilot's eligibility for medical certification. It was not re-established before the accident.
FAA CAMI toxicological testing on the pilot's specimens was negative for carbon monoxide, cyanide, and ethanol. Acetaminophen was detected. An autopsy by the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner noted microscopic findings of widespread neurofibrillary tangles associated with plaques of varying morphology in the brain, consistent with dementia. The autopsy also noted congestive cardiomegaly, hepatomegaly, hepatosteatosis, chronic pancreatitis, and marked senile valvular redundancy with annular calcification of the mitral valve. The cause of death was blunt force injuries of torso and lower extremities.
Additional Information
GPS data from the Garmin GPSMap 196 showed the flight began at AOO about 1306. The airplane climbed to about 4,700 feet, varied altitude, then climbed to 5,500 feet. The ground track was generally south with deviations. At about 1346, the airplane turned east and maintained a track within 4 degrees for 93 miles until about 1432, then turned another 20 degrees east to about 140° track until about 1453 when it was 0.5 miles north-northwest of AKQ's runway 20 threshold.
The GPS data showed the airplane then flew parallel to runway 20 offset about 1,200 feet to the west-northwest. Beyond the runway end, it made a 180° left turn to an approximate downwind leg offset about 4,600 feet, descending from 1,500 to 1,100 feet. It then turned left to a base leg but continued into an oval centered about 4,500 feet north-northeast of the threshold, with major axis about 3,500 feet and minor axis about 2,700 feet, completed in about 1 minute. The final recorded GPS data point at 1456:39 indicated ground track 185° true, groundspeed 103 mph, GPS altitude 671 feet.
The Virginia Regional Festival of Flight was scheduled at SFQ on May 22-23, 2010. The operations manager reported the airspace remained open except for a noon military flyby on May 22; no arrival or parking reservations were required. The pilot's daughter stated her father had been trying to sell the airplane for a few years and intended to fly to SFQ to sell it at the Festival. She said he spent time trying to eliminate a strange noise on nose landing gear extension and was short-tempered feeling rushed to fix it before the sale. She stated he flew to SFQ frequently and knew the journey well, and on flights from home he never made interim stops before SFQ. A Lockheed Martin Flight Services representative reported no services were provided to N91HR on the day of or day before the accident.