Accident Overview
On September 28, 2019, at 1909 eastern daylight time, an unregistered amateur-built experimental light-sport Solo Wings Windlass weight-shift control aircraft was substantially damaged when it collided with terrain shortly after takeoff from Pratermill Flight Park, Dalton, Georgia. The airline transport pilot was fatally injured. The aircraft was privately owned and operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local flight.
Aircraft Information
The two-seat weight-shift control aircraft was equipped with a cable-braced hang glider-style high-wing, tricycle landing gear, and a single Rotax 503, 50-horsepower engine in a pusher configuration. According to the owner, he purchased the aircraft in 1998 and had flown it about 200 hours before placing it into storage for approximately 10 years. When the accident pilot expressed interest, the owner took the aircraft out of storage and replaced fuel lines, fuel filter, tires, tubes, wing spar bungee cord, primer, throttle cable, and battery. He then flew it 4 to 5 hours with no anomalies noted. On the day of the accident, the owner completed a 30-minute flight and noted no anomalies.
Pilot Information
The pilot held an airline transport pilot certificate with ratings for airplane multi-engine land, commercial pilot privileges for glider and airplane single-engine land, and a flight instructor certificate for airplane single-engine. He held an FAA first-class medical certificate issued on August 28, 2018, and reported 18,870 total flight hours. A flight instructor provided the pilot with 14 to 16 hours of instruction in weight-shift control aircraft in the two months preceding the accident, and considered the pilot ready for a check ride. However, the pilot had not completed that check ride and did not hold a sport pilot certificate with a weight-shift-control-land endorsement. The pilot had not logged any flight experience in the accident aircraft.
Accident Sequence
The owner witnessed the flight and stated that the aircraft rotated about 300 feet down the turf runway, climbed to an altitude above tree level, then turned left and seemed to falter before falling to the ground. Another witness on adjacent property observed the aircraft fly south, then make an easterly turn toward his property. He reported that the aircraft lost lift in the turn and seemed to stall, then made an uncontrolled turning descent. He noted that the engine revved higher than normal at the time of the turn.
Wreckage and Impact
The aircraft came to rest beyond a tree line in a fenced pasture about 450 feet east of runway 17. The wing remained largely intact, but structural tubes were bent and fractured. The landing gear separated from the fuselage. The airframe parachute was not deployed. Grass along the debris field showed blighting consistent with fuel spillage. The 10-gallon fuel tank separated and punctured, coming to rest about 25 feet from the fuselage. Continuity of throttle cable, wing brace cables, and control bar linkage was confirmed.
Composite propeller blades were fractured near the roots; the hub remained attached. Blade surfaces had chordwise scratching and leading edge damage. One blade's leading edge strip was deformed from impact. Fiber areas near the hub bent opposite rotation direction. The engine case was crack-free; one carburetor was missing and not found during recovery. The recovered carburetor was separated from the engine during impact and appeared normal. The fuel pump and in-line fuel filter were clean and unobstructed. Spark plugs showed normal wear. The engine rotated freely with thumb compression observed.
Medical Information
The Whitfield County, Georgia Coroner did not perform an autopsy or toxicological testing.