Lance M Hooley JETEZ N815EY

Summary

On 1 September 2018 at about 22:20 local time, a Lance M Hooley JETEZ registered N815EY was involved in an accident near Covington, Tennessee, 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

1 September 2018 at 22:20

Classification

Accident

Location

Covington, Tennessee, United States

Nearest airport

Covington Muni (M04)

Coordinates

35.5864, -89.5783

Aircraft

Lance M Hooley JETEZ

Registration

N815EY

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

Covington → Covington

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA18FA240

1 person died.

The improper manufacture of the left wing, which resulted in a left wing flutter event and failure at low altitude and high speed.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airline transport pilot was flying the experimental amateur-built airplane about 200 ft above ground level when its left wing failed, causing the airplane to abruptly depart controlled flight and subsequently impact terrain. Two witnesses indicated that the left wing began a flutter-like movement (described as an oscillation and a "wave like movement"/"wiggle") immediately before the wing failed at its mid-span. The speed of the airplane at the time of the left wing failure could not be determined. However, a witness who had extensive experience observing the accident airplane during flight reported that the pilot performed an intentional low pass over the airport at a speed that may have been near the airplane's maximum structural limits. The National Transportation Safety Board's Materials Laboratory examined portions of the internal left wing material and found a lack of penetration and bonding of epoxy resin, which resulted in wing sections in which the adhesive had disbonded, leading to the wing's failure. This finding indicated a fabrication problem during manufacture and not wear over time or an environmental degradation failure. The lack of impregnation of the resin into the wing skin pieces indicated a lack of a vacuum seal during the curing process. The airplane's builder records were not located during the investigation; therefore, the method and timeline for manufacturing the wings could not be determined. Nevertheless, the findings indicated that the left wing was not properly designed and manufactured, which resulted in flutter at high speeds. It is likely that the airplane's left wing entered a flutter condition during the high-speed low-pass maneuver and that the left wing's internal composite structure near the wing's mid-span subsequently experienced a failure of the adhesive between the composite layers.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.