Miller Air Sports GEM 260 N177M

Summary

On 1 September 1984 at about 16:15 local time, a Miller Air Sports GEM 260 registered N177M was involved in an accident near Martindale, Texas, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

1 September 1984 at 16:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Martindale, Texas, United States

Coordinates

30.5298, -98.3808

Aircraft

Miller Air Sports GEM 260

Registration

N177M

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW84FA374

1 person died.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

NOTES LEFT BY PLT INDICATE HE HAD BEEN TESTING THE FLIGHT ENVELOPE OF THIS EXPERIMENTAL RACING ACFT, INCLUDING OPERATION OF THE ENGINE BEYOND PROP LIMIT OF 4000 RPM. WITNESSES HEARD ENGINE SOUND SUDDENLY SPEED UP TO HIGH RPM THEN CEASE ALTOGETHER. SOME WITNESSES REPORTED HEARING AN EXPLOSIVE SOUND. ACFT WRECKAGE WAS SCATTERED OVER 1-1/2 MILES. HORIZONTAL AIRFRAME SURFACES WERE DISINTEGRATED; LARGEST PIECE WEIGHED LESS THAN 10 LBS. 3 PROP BLADES (WOOD CORE) HAD SEPARATED 8' OUTBOARD OF HUB; FOURTH BLADE SEPARATED INSIDE SPINNER. ONLY ONE BLADE WAS RECOVERED. EXAMINATION OF AIRFRAME FRACTURES REVEALED SEPARATIONS OCCURRED ALONG MULTIPLE AXES; SIGNATURES IN CONVENTIONAL MATERIALS SHOWED CHARACTERISTICS OF GROSS OVERLOAD. COMPOSITE MATERIAL SEPARATIONS PARALLELED WARP OF 'CLOTH' EXCEPT IN AREAS OF HIGH PEEL STRESS. ALL COMPOSITE STRUCTURES EXHIBITED UNIFORM SATURATION OF RESIN; NO AIR BUBBLES FOUND IN LAYUP.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.