Vernon SONERAI IIL N6399D

Summary

On 17 December 2001 at about 20:50 local time, a Vernon SONERAI IIL registered N6399D was involved in an accident near Camarillo, California, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

17 December 2001 at 20:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Camarillo, California, United States

Nearest airport

Camarillo (CMA)

Coordinates

34.2000, -119.0833

Aircraft

Vernon SONERAI IIL

Registration

N6399D

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Camarillo → Camarillo

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX02LA051

Nobody was injured.

Failure of the pilot to maintain directional control on the landing rollout. Factors were the owner/pilot's inadequate remedial design changes and the freshly plowed field.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

On the landing rollout the airplane departed the runway and came to rest inverted in an adjacent field. The adjacent field had recently been plowed, and contained furrows. The airplane traveled perpendicular to the furrows and nosed over. The purpose of the flight was to practice maneuvers, and fulfill the experimental operating certificate limitations intial 40-hour requirement. The pilot had accrued 5 hours of flight time on the airplane. When he returned to land, he noted a crosswind, but did not believe that it would have an affect on the landing. There were no mechanical anomalies noted with the airplane by the pilot. Of note in the pilot's written statement was the directional instability that he encountered during takeoffs in the 7 hours that were placed on the airplane within the previous year. He made several modifications, mostly rigging changes to the tailwheel, to improve the takeoff characteristics. While in contact with the Sonerai technical representative, the owner stated that there were plans to convert the conventional landing gear airplane to a tricycle landing gear. The proposed modification would solve the instability problem.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.