Whitehead TITAN N226BW

Summary

On 20 April 2009 at about 16:00 local time, a Whitehead TITAN registered N226BW, operated by Walter J. Book, was involved in an accident near Slaughter, Louisiana, 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

20 April 2009 at 16:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Slaughter, Louisiana, United States

Nearest airport

A&P Airpark Airport (LS77)

Coordinates

30.7272, -91.1425

Aircraft

Whitehead TITAN

Registration

N226BW

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Walter J. Book

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Ferry

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Slaughter → Jonesville

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN09LA255

1 person died.

The pilot's incorrect use of pitch control, resulting in induced pitch oscillations and loss of aircraft control. Contributing to the accident were the pilot's total lack of experience in aircraft make/model, and his lack of recency of experience.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot had just purchased the experimental light sport airplane and was ferrying it to his home airport. Witnesses said that after the airplane took off, it started what appeared to be a pilot-induced oscillation. The pilot returned to the airport and was attempting to land when it collided with terrain. The oscillations continued all the way to the ground. The former owner told FAA inspectors that the pilot was over-correcting, or chasing the oscillations. He also said the airplane was quite sensitive around the lateral (pitch) axis. The pilot was a student pilot, and had never flown this airplane or any other light sport aircraft (LSA). The last time he had flown was almost a year before the accident. The airplane's last conditional inspection was more than two years old. The airplane's previous owner told FAA inspectors that the airplane was sold on an "as is, where is" basis, and the new owner was fully aware of these stipulations.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.