Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mount Olive, North Carolina 28365
Saturday, May 22, 1999 13:05 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot recalled that as the airplane descended through 1700 feet, the left wing assembly came up over the cockpit and separated from the airframe. The pilot reported that he always flew this airplane wearing a parachute, and as the airplane entered a spin he was ejected from the cockpit. After clearing the airframe, the pilot pulled the ripcord to deploy the parachute; a full parachute canopy was achieved 300 feet above the ground. During the examination of the airframe the left wing flying wire attachment plate was located and was discovered to have failed. The attachment plate fracture faces were examined with an optical microscope and were found to contain banding, typical of fatigue cracking, on both sides of the attachment hole. The fatigue cracking propagated nearly through the thickness of the plate. Elevated oxygen peaks, indicative of corrosion deposits, were also discovered.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A fatigue failure of the flywire bracket that resulted in the inflight separation of the left wing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/22/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1305 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | MOUNT OLIVE |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 28365 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1055 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 30 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GSB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 926 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 25 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2100 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1782 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 22 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1340 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 25 2001 4:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N96MG |
| NTSB Number | ATL99LA092 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Murray R. Gardner |
| Aircraft Model | FLY BABY |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | FLY BABY |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2-89 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 9925 |
| 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 | Aug 2 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 25 |
| Airframe Hours | 216 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SCOTT A. HINTON |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1039 CONSOLIDATED ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | ELIZABETH CITY |
| Aircraft Owner State | NC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 27909 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PGV |
| Departure City | GREENVILLE |
| Departure State | NC |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1000 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | LBT |
| Destination City | LUMBERTON |
| Destination State | NC |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 25 2001 4:09AM |
| 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 | -- |