Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Keymar, Maryland 21757
Saturday, May 13, 2000 17:10 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to witnesses, the homebuilt Fly Baby was cruising about 1,500 feet above the ground, in a climb or nose high attitude. The witnesses reported hearing a popping sound, after which the right wing folded up next to the fuselage. The airplane descended, and struck the ground. Examination revealed the two flying wires on the underside of the forward right wing spar were separated from the wing. One wire had failed at its loop through the eye of the turnbuckle, and the other wire separated at a failed turnbuckle. Metallurgical examination found evidence of overload on both failures. According to the designer of the airplane, the airplane had been static load tested to 6gs with no failure. In addition, each pair of flying wires must have similar or matched tension. If one wire was loose, a momentary flight load could exceed the load capability of one wire, which would cause it to fail, followed by the failure of the second wire as it tried to assume the load. The pre-accident tension on the failed flying wires could not be determined.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An overload failure of both flying wires, on the underside of the right wing, while the airplane was climbing, due to improper balance between the two flying wires, by unknown person(s).
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/13/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1710 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | KEYMAR |
| Event State | MARYLAND |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 21757 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 295 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HGR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 704 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 25 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| 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) | 10162 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Eastern Region Comm Ctr |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 13 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1819 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 17 2001 8:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2685 |
| NTSB Number | NYC00LA134 |
| 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 | Hing |
| Aircraft Model | FLY BABY 1A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | FLY BABY 1 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2572 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 925 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | RICHARD D. HORIGAN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | FAIRFIELD |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 17320 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | JAMES N. JONES |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | ARLINGTON |
| Operator State | VA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 22213 |
| 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 | W73 |
| Departure City | FAIRFIELD |
| Departure State | PA |
| 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 | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 9 2001 4:02AM |
| 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 | -- |