SABRENA DRAGONFLY — Maricopa, AZ, 2014

SABRENA DRAGONFLY — Maricopa, AZ

1 fatal

Date	February 24, 2014
Location	Maricopa, AZ
Aircraft	SABRENA DRAGONFLY
Purpose of flight	Personal
Conditions	Day · Visual Meteorological Cond
Phase / occurrence	Uncontrolled descent Collision with terr/obj (non-CFIT)
Pilot age	53
Pilot total time	763 hrs · Building experience
Time in type	Unknown
Fatalities	1

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane while maneuvering, which resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle of attack and subsequently experiencing an aerodynamic stall and spin at a low altitude.

NTSB findings

Personnel issues-Task performance-Use of equip/info-Aircraft control-Pilot - C
Aircraft-Aircraft oper/perf/capability-Performance/control parameters-(general)-Not attained/maintained - C

What happened

Witnesses reported that, after the pilot uneventfully released a tandem glider, he descended to about 30 feet above the ground and released the tow line. Afterward, the airplane pitched up abruptly until it was about 200 feet above the ground on what appeared to be the downwind leg of the runway traffic pattern. The nose of the airplane temporarily leveled before it pitched up a second time. The airplane then appeared to stall: the left wing dropped, and the airplane spun about two to three revolutions before impacting the ground in a nose-low attitude. Postaccident examination of the airframe and engine revealed no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation.

An editorial "what led to it / how to avoid it" analysis for this accident is generated separately and will appear here.