Saberwing SABERWING N203SW

Summary

On 18 December 2018 at about 20:00 local time, a Saberwing SABERWING registered N203SW was involved in an accident near Adel, Georgia, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

18 December 2018 at 20:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Adel, Georgia, United States

Coordinates

31.1036, -83.5531

Aircraft

Saberwing SABERWING

Registration

N203SW

Category

Airplane

Year built

2017

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Adel → Adel

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA19FA068

1 person died.

The in-flight failure of the fuselage, as a result of the pilot conducting maneuvers that exceeded the structural capabilities of the airplane.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane broke up in-flight and the wreckage was located about 6 miles southwest from the airport, scattered over a large swamp area; there were no witnesses to the accident. Examination of the airplane revealed that the wing forward spar had two significant failure areas on both the left and right wings; one was located at the side of the fuselage and one was located at the outboard wing attach points. This was indicative of shear failure of the rear spar upper attach bolts and tensile overload at the rear spar upper spar cap. The primary wing failures were due to negative overload causing failure of the upper attach points on the left and right wings. High positive loads on the horizontal stabilizers would generate downward bending loads in the fuselage that would be greatest at the rear spar location. Given these findings, it is likely that the pilot performed a pull-up maneuver aggressively or at high speed, possibly while performing aerobatics. The pull up would have generated significant down force on the tail, resulting in the left and right fuselage longerons failing in tensile overload due to the downward bending loads in the fuselage in excess of the structural capabilities of the airplane. This sudden failure would cause the airplane to pitch over violently resulting in the negative overload wing failure.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.