Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Elbert, Colorado 80106
Sunday, March 8, 1998 15:10 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A witness said the pilot was performing aerobatics, and while maneuvering, the aircraft (acft) went into a nose high attitude as if it was coming to the top of a loop. He said one of the wings suddenly 'folded' up, and 'It looked as if it had bent at the connection between the wing and the fuselage. . . .' The acft then entered an uncontrolled descent & crashed. Metallurgical exam of the right wing revealed overload fractures in the lower & upper main spar caps, which were indicative of upward failure; initial fracture was in the lower cap area. Twisting & upward bending of the main upper spar cap was noted, as well as 'overstress separation.' Five bolt holes were found at the inboard portion of the upper & lower main spar caps with no respective bolts or remnants of such bolts. No deformation or distortion of any of the bolt holes was noted, but circular markings were noted on the forward side of both outboard holes, & similar indications were noted on the aft side of 2 other holes in the lower main spar cap. The investigation did not determine whether the missing bolts had failed & separated during the breakup, or if they had not been reinstalled during previous maintenance/modification. All rivets in both the upper & lower main spar caps were broken through the shanks 'consistent with direct shear separations. No evidence of cracking or breaking of rivet heads . . . was noted.' This was 1 of 3 RV-3s built by Tony Duci & the 2nd to structurally fail in flight. Acft had been modified as an RV-3A, but had not been re-certified as such. Aerobatic gross weight limit (1,050 lbs) had been exceeded by an estimated 120 lbs.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
in-flight failure of the right wing spar (for an undetermined reason) as the pilot was performing aerobatic flight. The airplane's excessive gross weight (for aerobatics) was a related factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/8/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1510 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | ELBERT |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 80106 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1550 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 320 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | APA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5883 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 29 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 50 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -2 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 30 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 5117 |
| 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) | 159 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 8 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1539 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 10:54AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N99HV |
| NTSB Number | FTW98FA145 |
| 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 | DUCI'S VANS |
| Aircraft Model | RV-3 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | RV-3 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 528 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1175 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 1 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1 |
| Airframe Hours | 755 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CHRISTOPHER K. COFFLAND |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 19649 E. ELK CREEK RD. |
| Aircraft Owner City | PARKER |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80134 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | CO15 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| 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 | -- |