History of Flight
On August 2, 2010, at about 1300 Pacific daylight time, an experimental Advertising MGMT & Consulting Velocity Super XLRG5, registration N444YP, was substantially damaged following an emergency landing while maneuvering near San Diego, California. The private pilot and two passengers sustained serious injuries, and two passengers were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The planned cross-country flight, operating under 14 CFR Part 91, had departed Montgomery Field (MYF), San Diego, about 1245, with a reported destination of Fullerton Municipal Airport (FUL), Fullerton, California.
In a telephone interview with the National Transportation Safety Board investigator-in-charge (IIC) about two and one-half months after the accident, the pilot reported that after starting the engine and taxiing for a west departure, he did not remember the right cockpit/cabin door being open. After takeoff, he recalled turning south and then noticing the right door open. He contacted the airport control tower to advise them of the open door and that he would return to land. The pilot remembered a vibration, as if the door had come off and hit the propeller, leading him to choose to land on a golf course instead of attempting to return to the departure airport. He did not recall the approach, landing, or impact.
In a written report submitted about five months after the accident, the pilot stated that the passenger door came open right after takeoff, that he declared an emergency to the tower, and that the door then separated from the airplane and went through the rear propeller, forcing him to land on a golf course. He did not remember anything after informing the tower of his intent to land on a golf course.
A witness at MYF observed the pilot preflighting the airplane, noting that he attended to the rear of the airplane and the engine for an extended period. After boarding, the pilot closed his door, started the engine, and taxied to the departure runway. The witness noticed the passenger door was still open during taxi. He watched the airplane depart runway 27R and make left turns to crosswind and downwind, with the passenger door open and sticking up over the fuselage. The pilot appeared to have difficulty maintaining straight and level attitude but maintained altitude downwind.
A second witness, living near the approach pattern to MYF, reported hearing an aircraft very low overhead (less than 100 feet above ground level) with an engine sound that varied from full open to almost stalling and back again, without popping sounds.
The accident pilot's flight instructor, who conducted the initial test flight and numerous maintenance and training flights with the pilot, stated that at no time did he detect anomalies with either door or their locking mechanisms. During a post-accident conversation, the accident pilot indicated that he simply missed locking the copilot door (an item on the before-takeoff checklist) prior to departure, which resulted in the door separating from the airframe and causing the accident.
Personnel Information
The 46-year-old pilot held a private pilot certificate with a rating for airplane single-engine land and a third-class medical certificate issued April 22, 2009, with no limitations or waivers. His logbook, last entered on July 6, 2010, showed a total flight time of 196.3 hours, with 83.9 hours in make and model (all in the accident airplane). In the 90, 60, and 30 days prior to the accident, he logged 28.5, 7, and 3.6 hours, respectively, all in the accident airplane. His most recent flight review was on April 16, 2010. On April 17, 2009, he reported a gear-up landing in the accident airplane.
Aircraft Information
The Velocity Super XLRG5, serial number 3RX124, is a five-passenger, experimental/amateur-built fixed-wing, retractable-gear, single-engine airplane. It received an FAA airworthiness certificate on October 29, 2007, and was powered by an aft-mounted, rear-facing Continental Motors IO-550-N reciprocating engine rated at 310 horsepower, equipped with a supercharger assembly. Maintenance records showed the airframe and engine were last inspected in accordance with FAR Part 43, Appendix D, on February 6, 2010, at a tachometer time of 137.0 hours, and found in a condition for safe operation. Due to a propeller strike from the gear-up landing, the engine was removed on June 26, 2009, at 137.0 hours tach time, and reinstalled on February 6, 2010.
Meteorological Information
At 1253, the MYF weather reporting system indicated wind from 280 degrees at 7 knots, clear sky, temperature 23°C, dew point 14°C, and an altimeter setting of 29.95 inches of mercury.
Wreckage and Impact Information
According to an FAA aviation safety inspector, the airplane impacted a golf course fairway, skipped over a green and into a cart path, then came to rest inverted in ice plant adjacent to a tee box, about 2.3 nautical miles east of the departure runway. All necessary components were accounted for, but the right passenger door was not with the wreckage; it was subsequently found about 1 mile west-southwest of the accident site.
Tests and Research
An NTSB investigator examined the airframe and the separated right passenger door. The door's window was fractured and partially absent with no strike/transfer marks; the top inner frame was separated and missing. The door locking mechanism was intact, consisting of one actuator driving four lock pins and a locking mechanism for the actuator/linkage. The upper segment of the outer door skin was separated from its hinges. The lower forward corner exhibited an impact gash and rubber impact marks.
The engine was examined under NTSB supervision by a Continental Motors representative. Damage included the top side of the number 5 cylinder cooling fins, separated upper deck reference line from the supercharger (cylinders 1, 3, and 5), overlapped supercharger-to-throttle body coupling band clamps, and separated forward and aft drive belts. Each of the three propeller blades exhibited rubber impact marks. The inspection revealed no other anomalies that would have prevented normal operation and production of rated horsepower.