Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Santa Paula Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Santa Paula, California 93060
Saturday, August 12, 1995 15:10 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was doing a demonstration air show routine, one that he had performed in this aircraft for over 2 years. Near the end of the performance, the pilot entered his standard 8g minimum radius knife edge turn about 200 feet agl. The accident sequence was videotaped by a spectator. About 270 degrees into the turn, the aircraft burbled, or rocked the wings slightly. The videotape showed the aircraft increase the angle of attack just before the burble was observed. Following the burble, the left wing dropped and the aircraft rolled left 270 degrees to a near wings level flight attitude. The aircraft then descended in a nose-up pitch attitude behind a tree line and impacted the ground. The aircraft designer stated that the wing plan form is a modified delta similar to the Vari-EZ/Long-EZ designs, which incorporates a forward canard for pitch control. The pilot sits in a high g-tolerant reclined position. During flight test, no main wing stall has been induced due to g-loads imposed on the aircraft. FAA inspectors examined the aircraft twice and found no discrepancies. Air show pilots who performed just before the accident pilot said that the airmass was smooth with no unusual turbulence or other meteorological phenomena noted.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's inadvertent entry into an accelerated stall in a maximum performance high-g turn at an altitude insufficient to recover aircraft control prior to colliding with the ground.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/12/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1510 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | SANTA PAULA |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93060 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | SANTA PAULA |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SZP |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1446 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 175 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CMA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 75 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1931 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 12 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1545 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:31PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N91DR |
| NTSB Number | LAX95LA289 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | RONNEBERG/MURPHY |
| Aircraft Model | BERKUT |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | BERKUT |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0001 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 7 1995 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 35 |
| Airframe Hours | 1327 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | D. RONNENBERG/ D. MURPHY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3025 AIRPORT AVENUE |
| Aircraft Owner City | SANTA MONICA |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90405 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | EXPERIMENTAL AVIATION, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SZP |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1500 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |