Hopkins RUTAN VARIVIGGEN N389VV

Summary

On 16 November 2005 at about 19:10 local time, a Hopkins RUTAN VARIVIGGEN registered N389VV was involved in an accident near Aguila, Arizona, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

16 November 2005 at 19:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Aguila, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Eagle Roost Airpark (27AZ)

Coordinates

33.9194, -113.1672

Aircraft

Hopkins RUTAN VARIVIGGEN

Registration

N389VV

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Flight Test

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Aguila → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX06CA037

1 person was seriously injured.

the pilot's failure to maintain an adequate airspeed during landing approach, which resulted in an inadvertent stall. A contributing factor was the pilot's lack of experience in the accident airplane.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane dragged a wing and collided with terrain during an approach for landing. The accident flight was the first test flight after the pilot finished building the experimental canard-wing airplane. The pilot reported that he inadvertently allowed the airplane's airspeed to decay during the landing approach, which resulted in a canard wing stall. Subsequently, the right main wing dropped and impacted the ground, then the airplane cartwheeled. He reported that he might have been able to prevent the accident had he hired an experienced test pilot to conduct the flight test. He accumulated a total of 83 hours of flight time, and the accident flight was his first time flying this make and model of airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.