Murray Blair L FREE BIRD CLASSIC N176FB

Summary

On 12 October 2015 at about 22:35 local time, a Murray Blair L FREE BIRD CLASSIC registered N176FB was involved in an accident near Kylertown, Pennsylvania, 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

12 October 2015 at 22:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Kylertown, Pennsylvania, United States

Nearest airport

Private (NONE)

Coordinates

41.0519, -78.4092

Aircraft

Murray Blair L FREE BIRD CLASSIC

Registration

N176FB

Category

Airplane

Year built

2014

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kylertown → Kylertown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA16LA010

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain sufficient airspeed during approach for landing, which resulted in an inadvertent aerodynamic stall/spin. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s lack of flight experience in the accident airplane make and model.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot/owner had recently completed the experimental, amateur-built airplane and was conducting the first test flight. The pilot had completed two circuits around his private airstrip before witnesses saw the airplane approaching to land. While on final approach about 50-100 ft above the ground, the airplane suddenly descended and impacted terrain. Of the three witnesses who saw the accident, two stated that the airplane nosed over to ground contact, and one stated that the left wing dropped before the airplane nosed over. Two other individuals heard the engine "rev up" before impact but did not observe the accident. The airplane impacted terrain short of the runway in a nearly vertical, nose-down attitude and sustained extensive damage to the engine, fuselage, wings, and empennage. The tail of the airplane was twisted and bent forward over the fuselage, and there did not appear to be any forward momentum of the airplane at impact, consistent with an aerodynamic stall/spin. The witness accounts of the airplane's nose or wing dropping were also consistent with entry into a stall/spin. Given that the accident flight was the pilot's first flight in the airplane, he was likely unfamiliar with its flight characteristics, and, during the approach for landing, the pilot allowed the airspeed to decay. The airplane subsequently exceeded its critical angle of attack and entered an aerodynamic stall/spin.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.