History of Flight
On October 14, 2021, about 1551 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Velocity SE RG airplane, registration N755V, was destroyed when it impacted terrain near Space Coast Regional Airport (TIX) in Titusville, Florida. The pilot, who owned the airplane, was fatally injured. The flight was conducted under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal operation.
The airplane had flown earlier that day from TIX to Sebastian Municipal Airport (X26) in Sebastian, Florida. While at X26, the pilot visited the kit manufacturer's facility to replace a landing-gear-up switch fuse because the landing gear was not retracting. Afterward, the pilot removed both the pilot seat and rear seat, leaving the rear seat at the facility for an interior renovation planned for the next month. The pilot reinstalled the pilot seat and departed X26 uneventfully at about 1528 for the return flight to TIX.
Based on witness statements, automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast data, and airport surveillance video, while the airplane was on short final approach to runway 9 at TIX, it pitched up, climbed about 300 ft, then descended nose down. The airplane impacted a grass area about 400 ft right of the runway centerline and about 2,000 ft from the runway threshold. A postcrash fire ensued that consumed most of the wreckage.
Aircraft and Pilot Information
The airplane was an experimental amateur-built Velocity SE RG, assembled about 10 years before the pilot purchased it in 2016. The maintenance logbooks were not recovered. The pilot's logbook was also not recovered; the president of the kit manufacturer estimated the pilot had about 200 hours of total flight experience in the accident airplane make and model.
Wreckage Examination
The airplane came to rest upright on a magnetic heading of about 230°, with no debris path observed. The cockpit and cabin were mostly consumed by fire. The flight control stick was not recovered. The pilot seat was identified, with its four bolts and hard points still attached, but the seat frame was bent and separated consistent with impact forces.
A Grand Rapids primary flight display and multifunction display were recovered, but neither had an installed USB flash drive for data recording, and no drives were found in the wreckage. The left and right ailerons separated from their wings; control continuity was confirmed from the separated ailerons to the cockpit. The canard spar was intact but fire damaged. The left and right elevators were not recovered and presumed destroyed. The elevator push-pull tube section that connected to the control stick was recovered, but the threaded rod end was not engaged and was not recovered. Continuity of the elevator system from torque tubes to the cockpit was confirmed except for that push-pull tube section, which was retained for metallurgical examination. The elevator trim actuator was destroyed, and the preimpact trim setting could not be determined. The left rudder was identified; its bellcrank remained intact, but its cable exhibited a broomstraw separation. The right rudder was not recovered.
The engine separated from the airframe and came to rest upright. All three propeller blades remained attached to the hub but separated about 12 inches from their roots. Top spark plugs were removed and showed intact, light gray electrodes. Borescope examination of cylinders revealed no anomalies. The crankshaft could be rotated by hand, and camshaft, crankshaft, and valvetrain continuity were confirmed with thumb compression on all cylinders. Due to thermal damage, the ignition and fuel systems could not be tested.
Metallurgical examination of the elevator push-pull tube section revealed that fire had caused a portion of the tube to collapse and melt. No contact marks from the jam nut were observed, and the first three threads in the threaded plug were missing. Examination with a stereo microscope indicated that the first three threads were fractured in shear overstress, while the remaining threads were intact. The kit assembly manual instructed at least 0.5 inches of thread engagement with the rod end in the 1.5-inch threaded plug, with a note stating "all the way in is best." Due to the lack of maintenance documentation, the investigation could not determine when the rod end had been most recently adjusted.
Medical and Pathological Information
An autopsy performed on the pilot determined the cause of death to be multiple blunt force injuries. Toxicology testing identified doxylamine in the pilot's cavity blood at 80 ng/ml and in his liver. Doxylamine is a sedating antihistamine available over the counter, with a usual blood level for effects between 50 and 200 ng/ml.