MOYNIHAN RICHARD D VANS RV-7A — White Hills, AZ

What happened

The pilot was conducting a personal flight in his experimental, amateur-built airplane. The flight data revealed that the pilot made multiple 90-degree turns before the airplane’s flight path became established over a highway. The airplane then entered a maneuver that was consistent with an aileron roll where it lost about 1,000 ft of altitude. A few minutes later the airplane entered a maneuver consistent with a split-S. Security video near the accident site captured the airplane in a steep nose-down descent before impacting the ground near airport hangars. Several objects from the airplane were seen falling to the ground south of the accident site. In another security video, an image of the airplane showed that the left horizontal stabilizer and elevator and the vertical stabilizer and rudder had separated from the empennage. A portion of the right horizontal stabilizer and elevator remained attached to the empennage. The left wing tip and canopy also separated. The accident site debris field revealed that the rudder and rudder surface skin were the furthest separated components from the impact crater and main wreckage, indicating that the rudder was likely the first component to fail. The remaining separated components were found in the debris field.

The airplane data revealed that the pilot entered the split-S maneuver at an airspeed that exceeded the published manufacturer’s airspeed for that maneuver. The airplane then rolled to an inverted position and pitched down causing the airspeed to increase dramatically. The last recorded data point, at an altitude about 3,199 ft, showed the airspeed was 248 KIAS (262 KTAS), well above the published never exceed speed of 200 knots. The high airspeed allowed rudder flutter to occur, resulting in an in-flight breakup and subsequent impact with terrain.

A postaccident examination of the airframe revealed damage consistent with an in-flight rudder flutter event that resulted in an in-flight breakup and subsequent impact with terrain. There were no indications of any pre-existing cracks or anomalies with the airframe structures, and no pre-accident anomalies were observed that would have precluded normal control of the airplane.

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