Whitten Robinson AVENTURA II N709CW

Summary

On 23 July 2022 at about 22:54 local time, a Whitten Robinson AVENTURA II registered N709CW was involved in an accident near Meritt Island, Florida, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

23 July 2022 at 22:54

Classification

Accident

Location

Meritt Island, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Merritt ISland (COI)

Coordinates

28.3416, -80.6855

Aircraft

Whitten Robinson AVENTURA II

Registration

N709CW

Category

Airplane

Year built

2009

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Merritt Island → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA22LA332

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during final approach to land, which resulted in an exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack, aerodynamic stall, and collision with a fence and terrain.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot had accrued 954 total hours of flight experience but had only flown about 3.2 hours during four flights in the experimental amateur-built amphibious accident airplane. The pilot departed from a grass area next to a runway at the airport where he kept the airplane. After an uneventful local flight he returned to the airport to land. He performed go-arounds during the first two landing approaches due to being either too high or too fast. During the third landing attempt, the pilot thought the approach looked “OK” but then he noticed that he was too low, and too slow, so he increased engine power and applied slight up elevator. The pilot explained that the engine was on top of the wing (mounted in a pusher configuration) and normally when power was added the airplane would initially pitch down but would level off and then climb. The pilot described that this time though when he was too slow (about 45 knots), he added an extra amount of power, which pushed the nose down and made the airplane descend. He then “got scared,” “gave too much up elevator,” and believed that the airplane entered an aerodynamic stall. The airplane then struck the ground and a fence at an airspeed of about 55 knots. The pilot was seriously injured and postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the fuselage was substantially damaged. The pilot reported that during the accident flight, the flight controls and engine all operated normally.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.