What happened
On October 4, 2003, a Mudry Cap 10B, registration F-GGYI, was performing aerobatic maneuvers near the Orléans Saint Denis de l’Hôtel aerodrome. During a sequence of maneuvers, the pilot attempted a roll, but the aircraft entered an uncontrolled state. While climbing vertically, the left wing dropped, and as the pilot attempted to recover by pulling back on the control stick, the aircraft spontaneously entered a left-hand roll. The aircraft then entered a vertical dive, rotating around its roll axis.
As the aircraft's speed increased rapidly and altitude decreased, the pilot decided to abandon the maneuver and evacuate the aircraft at approximately 1,500 ft. The pilot jettisoned the canopy and attempted to exit the cockpit. Due to the high relative wind, the pilot initially failed to exit but was eventually pulled from the cockpit when his parachute was deployed. The passenger, however, remained inside the aircraft. The aircraft struck the ground vertically, resulting in the destruction of the aircraft and one fatality (the passenger), while the pilot sustained injuries.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the sequence of flight controls and the feasibility of the evacuation. Investigators examined the flight control cables and found no evidence of mechanical failure or blockage; a broken cable was determined to have been severed by emergency responders. The engine's air intake was found in a position corresponding to 70-80% power.
Regarding the safety equipment, the investigation noted that the aircraft used a dual restraint system: a five-point harness and an additional waist belt. While the pilot had instructed the passenger on safety procedures, the investigation found that the passenger's five-point harness was undone, though the waist belt remained buckled. The cockpit's cramped dimensions and the extreme time pressure during the descent were also analyzed.
Findings
- The primary cause of the accident was the failure to recover from a botched aerobatic maneuver.
- The pilot was unable to analyze the loss of control in the very limited time available due to the rapid sequence of attitudes and decreasing altitude.
- High stress levels and the rapid loss of altitude likely prompted the premature decision to abandon control recovery in favor of an emergency evacuation.
- The passenger's inability to evacuate was due to the intense stress of the situation and the extreme difficulty of extracting an untrained individual from the cockpit in such a short timeframe.
- The pilot's decision to evacuate may have been influenced by recent airworthiness directives limiting the flight envelope of the Cap 10, causing a potential loss of confidence in the aircraft's structural limits during the maneuver.