Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Oakland/Pontiac Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Pontiac, Michigan 48056
Wednesday, May 25, 1988 15:07 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE PILOT WAS TESTING THIS EXPERIMENTAL ACROBATIC AIRCRAFT, MAKING A SECOND LOW PASS OVER THE RUNWAY WHEN A PORTION OF THE LEFT WING SEPARATED FROM THE AIRCRAFT, FOLLOWED BY LOSS OF THE LEFT AILERON, 1 1/2 ROLLS TO THE LEFT AND GROUND IMPACT. THE AIRFRAME TOTAL TIME WAS 4 HOURS. ON-SCENE INSPECTION REVEALED NO MASS BALANCE IN THE AILERONS. WITNESSES ESTIMATE SPEEDS AT OR ABOVE 150 MPH. A DESIGNATED ENGINEERING REPRESENTATIVE IN THE AREA OF FLUTTER AND VIBRATION STATED HE HAD RECOMMENDED THAT THE AIRSPEED BE LIMITED TO A MAXIMUM SPEED OF APPROXIMATELY 135 MPH UNTIL GROUND VIBRATION TESTS WERE CONDUCTED.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
DESTRUCTIVE WING/AILERON FLUTTER IS SUSPECTED, BUT NOT SUFFICIENTLY SUBSTANTIATED THROUGH RESEARCH AND CALCULATIONS TO BE CITED AS THE PROBABLE CAUSE OF THIS ACCIDENT.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/25/1988 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1507 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | PONTIAC |
| Event State | MICHIGAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 48056 |
| Event Date Year | 1988 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | OAKLAND/PONTIAC |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PTK |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 980 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1908 Z |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PTK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 980 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | Z |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 15000 |
| 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) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 15 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| 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 | FAA |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 2397 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 25 1988 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1515 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 39193 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 11:44AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N889HC |
| NTSB Number | CHI88DEC02 |
| 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 | CHAPPEL |
| Aircraft Model | RATSREPUS 300 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | RATSREPUS |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2 |
| 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 | 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 | 4 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | HAROLD RAYMOND CHAPPELL II |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 401 S JOSSMAN |
| Aircraft Owner City | ORTONVILLE |
| Aircraft Owner State | MI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 48462 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | HAROLD R. CHAPPEL II |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 401 JOSSMAN |
| Operator City | ORTONVILLE |
| Operator State | MI |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 48462 |
| 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 | PTK |
| Departure City | PONTIAC |
| Departure State | MI |
| 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 10:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 9L |
| Runway Length | 3251 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |