Cloud Jeffrey Ferrell LONG EZ N754T

Summary

On 11 November 2017 at about 15:35 local time, a Cloud Jeffrey Ferrell LONG EZ registered N754T was involved in an accident near Eufaula, Alabama, United States. 2 people were 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

11 November 2017 at 15:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Eufaula, Alabama, United States

Nearest airport

Weedon Field (EUF)

Coordinates

31.9586, -85.1283

Aircraft

Cloud Jeffrey Ferrell LONG EZ

Registration

N754T

Category

Airplane

Year built

2015

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Marianna → Atlanta

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ANC18LA008

Nobody was injured.

The in-flight separation of a portion of the propeller, which subsequently penetrated the right rudder, as a result of the failure of the bond line between two of the propeller’s wood layers. Contributing to the failure of the propeller was the manufacturer’s use of an inappropriate bonding agent.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot was conducting a personal flight in an experimental airplane. While in cruise flight, the airplane "violently began shuddering," and the pilot immediately shut down the engine and attempted an emergency landing. The airplane was unable to reach the selected runway and landed about 200 ft short of the runway threshold in a rough, grassy area. After exiting the airplane, the pilot discovered that a portion of the trailing edge of the wood propeller had separated and penetrated the lower half of the right rudder control surface. A postaccident examination of the remaining portion of the wood propeller determined that the propeller was manufactured from laminations of defect-free hard maple lumber that showed no signs of decay. An inspection of the separation surface indicated that the individual layers of the propeller were laminated together using an adhesive that resulted in a light-colored bond line. The failure surface included an exposed portion of the bond line between two wood layers that had failed. Examination of this bond line showed minimal wood failure that was about 8 inches long and between 1/8 and 1/4 inch wide. The amount of cured adhesive observed varied considerably along the length of the failure surface's bond line, with an area of the bond line having minimal adhesive coverage. According to the propeller manufacturer, the propeller was carved by hand and assembled using an adhesive that is advertised as "ideal for interior wood application." However, the adhesive had not been tested for applications in which extreme temperature fluctuations, pressure, and vibrations would be expected, such as those experienced during airplane operations.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.