Murray R Gardner FLY BABY N96MG

Summary

On 22 May 1999 at about 17:05 local time, a Murray R Gardner FLY BABY registered N96MG was involved in an accident near Mount Olive, North Carolina, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

22 May 1999 at 17:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Mount Olive, North Carolina, United States

Coordinates

35.1910, -78.0591

Aircraft

Murray R Gardner FLY BABY

Registration

N96MG

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Greenville → Lumberton

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ATL99LA092

1 person had minor injuries.

A fatigue failure of the flywire bracket that resulted in the inflight separation of the left wing.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot recalled that as the airplane descended through 1700 feet, the left wing assembly came up over the cockpit and separated from the airframe. The pilot reported that he always flew this airplane wearing a parachute, and as the airplane entered a spin he was ejected from the cockpit. After clearing the airframe, the pilot pulled the ripcord to deploy the parachute; a full parachute canopy was achieved 300 feet above the ground. During the examination of the airframe the left wing flying wire attachment plate was located and was discovered to have failed. The attachment plate fracture faces were examined with an optical microscope and were found to contain banding, typical of fatigue cracking, on both sides of the attachment hole. The fatigue cracking propagated nearly through the thickness of the plate. Elevated oxygen peaks, indicative of corrosion deposits, were also discovered.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.