Loss of Control in Flight · NTSB CEN13LA186
FISHER MICHAEL E CELEBRITY — Terrell, TX
| Date | March 4, 2013 |
| Location | Terrell, TX |
| Aircraft | FISHER MICHAEL E CELEBRITY (amateur-built) |
| Purpose of flight | Personal |
| Conditions | Day · Visual Meteorological Cond |
| Phase / occurrence | Uncontrolled descent Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT) |
| Pilot age | 69 |
| Pilot total time | 1,122 hrs · Experienced |
| Time in type | Unknown |
| Fatalities | 1 |
Probable cause
NTSB findings
- Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-Dynamic load-Capability exceeded - C
- Personnel issues-Action/decision-Action-Incorrect action performance-Pilot - C
- Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Use of equip/system-Pilot - C
- Aircraft-Aircraft structures-Wing structure-(general)-Capability exceeded - C
What happened
Witnesses reported seeing the airplane performing a series of loops and rolls and then sections of the wings separating from the airplane before it descended and impacted terrain. A postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed that the wing failure initiated at the bottom of the right outboard forward wing strut. This failure allowed the right upper wing to rise, which placed an overload stress on the upper wing spar and bottom right wing. The top wing spar separated in the area left of the fuselage struts. The entire upper wing and lower right wing folded up and rearward and then separated from the airplane. All of the separations were consistent with overload failures, indicating that the pilot exceeded the airplane's design stress limits while performing aerobatic maneuvers.