Hing FLY BABY 1A N2685

Summary

On 13 May 2000 at about 21:10 local time, a Hing FLY BABY 1A registered N2685, operated by James N. Jones, was involved in an accident near Keymar, Maryland, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

13 May 2000 at 21:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Keymar, Maryland, United States

Coordinates

39.5908, -77.2594

Aircraft

Hing FLY BABY 1A

Registration

N2685

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

James N. Jones

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fairfield → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC00LA134

1 person died.

An overload failure of both flying wires, on the underside of the right wing, while the airplane was climbing, due to improper balance between the two flying wires, by unknown person(s).

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to witnesses, the homebuilt Fly Baby was cruising about 1,500 feet above the ground, in a climb or nose high attitude. The witnesses reported hearing a popping sound, after which the right wing folded up next to the fuselage. The airplane descended, and struck the ground. Examination revealed the two flying wires on the underside of the forward right wing spar were separated from the wing. One wire had failed at its loop through the eye of the turnbuckle, and the other wire separated at a failed turnbuckle. Metallurgical examination found evidence of overload on both failures. According to the designer of the airplane, the airplane had been static load tested to 6gs with no failure. In addition, each pair of flying wires must have similar or matched tension. If one wire was loose, a momentary flight load could exceed the load capability of one wire, which would cause it to fail, followed by the failure of the second wire as it tried to assume the load. The pre-accident tension on the failed flying wires could not be determined.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.