What happened
On April 09, 2026, at approximately 12:24 Pacific daylight time, an Airplane Factory (Pty) Ltd Sling 2, registration N166TW, crashed near Avalon, California. The flight was being operated under 14 CFR Part 91 for personal use. The aircraft departed Zamperini Field Airport (TOA) in Torrance, California, at 11:53 for a flight to Santa Catalina Island.
Preliminary ADS-B data indicated the aircraft crossed open water to reach Blue Cavern Point on Santa Catalina Island. The flight path then took the aircraft over a ridge and through a canyon east of Little Harbor Road, eventually crossing a ridgeline near the Trans Catalina Trail. Approximately 11 minutes before the accident, a hiker on the trail observed the aircraft flying at a very low altitude, appearing to be less than 50 feet above the ridgeline and never exceeding 100 feet above the ground. The ADS-B signal was lost about one mile southwest of the final accident site.
The aircraft impacted terrain on the downslope of a steep canyon, approximately 400 feet southwest of the intersection of Divide Road and Avalon Canyon Road. The impact resulted in 2 fatal injuries to the pilot and the pilot-rated passenger.
The investigation
At the accident site, the wreckage was positioned with the nose low and the empennage at a high angle. The engine compartment and the lower portion of the fuselage, up to the mid-fuselage, were compressed upward and aft into the firewall and instrument panel. The tail section, specifically from the forward horizontal stabilizer, sustained impact damage and remained attached to the aft fuselage only by the elevator push-pull tube.
Investigation of the cockpit revealed the following:
- The ignition switch was in the on position.
- The fuel selector was set to the left tank.
- The flaps were fully retracted.
- The installed ballistic parachute rocket had not been deployed.
Due to the difficult terrain and the nature of the impact damage, flight control continuity could not be confirmed at the scene. Electronic components, including data cards and motherboards from the avionics, were recovered and sent to the NTSB Recorders Lab in Washington, D.C., for flight data extraction.