Extra Flugzeugbau EA-300 N45R

Summary

On 8 April 2012 at about 13:55 local time, a Extra Flugzeugbau EA-300 registered N45R was involved in an accident near Salinas, California, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

8 April 2012 at 13:55

Classification

Accident

Location

Salinas, California, United States

Nearest airport

Salinas Municipal Airport (KSNS)

Coordinates

36.6664, -121.5536

Aircraft

Extra Flugzeugbau EA-300

Registration

N45R

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Salinas → Salinas

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dawn

NTSB number

WPR12FA155

2 people died.

A loose portable XM-GPS antenna that migrated to the tail section of the airplane and jammed the elevator bell crank. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to account for the cockpit portable GPS antenna during preflight or postflight inspection.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Radar data recorded the airplane operating between 3,500 feet and 1,500 feet mean sea level. Two witnesses observed the airplane performing aerobatics. One witness stated that he observed the airplane perform two chandelles over the foothills north of his house, then the airplane turned south heading into an open valley. The airplane completed two aileron rolls and was halfway into a third roll when the nose pitched down, then pitched up, and the airplane rolled so that one wing was pointing down. The airplane then simultaneously rolled inverted and pitched down entering a very rapid descent into the ground. The witness stated that the engine was operating at what sounded like full power throughout the event. On-scene examination determined that the airplane impacted the ground with the left wing down and a 30-degree nose-down pitch. The wreckage examination identified a loose, puck-like, 4.5-inch diameter portable XM-GPS antenna in the empennage tail space that houses the elevator bell crank. The antenna had a 9-mm diameter semicircular indentation witness mark that was consistent in shape and size to the end of a 9-mm diameter bolt that attaches the forward spar of the vertical stabilizer to the fuselage frame, located directly above the elevator bell crank. The antenna location and associated witness mark indicate that the unsecured antenna migrated to the tail section of the airplane and obstructed the free movement of the elevator bell crank, limiting the pilot’s ability to control the airplane in pitch. The pilot had opened a weather service account linked through the XM-GPS antenna about 1 week before the accident. The GPS unit intended for use with the XM-GPS antenna was not located with the wreckage.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.