Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Juan Capist, California 92690
Wednesday, October 10, 2001 18:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Part of the left aileron separated after the aerobatic airplane collided with trees, and then the airplane impacted terrain in a near vertical descent. The pilot was going to perform at an airshow the following day. He was going to practice his aerobatic routine on this flight. The outboard half of the left aileron was on top of a hill about 3,000 feet east of the main wreckage, near broken branches at the base of a tree. Located near the outboard aileron were the transponder antenna, the left side windows, and the left aileron spade arm. The transponder antenna had been installed on the bottom of the airplane and forward of the aileron. The canopy was about 800 feet east of the main wreckage. Half of the canopy frame was in a tree; the other half was on the ground below. Shards of Plexiglas remained in the frame pieces. The main wreckage was on top of another hill in open grassy terrain. The main wreckage was within about a 50-foot circle. The pilot was outside of the cockpit, and away from the main wreckage. He was wearing a parachute. It was still folded in the pack; however, some shroud lines had snagged on the engine. The pilot also wore a helmet.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain an adequate terrain/object altitude clearance while intentionally performing low level aerobatics, which resulted in a loss of aircraft control.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/10/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1800 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | SAN JUAN CAPIST |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92690 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 332200N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1173600W |
| 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 | 1753 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 140 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SNA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 56 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 17 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 20 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 230 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 617 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| 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) | 16300 |
| NTSB Notification Source | |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 12 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1200 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 29 2004 1:02PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-LGB-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N541TW |
| NTSB Number | LAX02FA003 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | EDGE |
| Aircraft Model | 540 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1550 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 11 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 567 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | THOMAS B. WADE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | NEWPORT COAST |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92657 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | SNA |
| Departure City | Santa Ana |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1748 |
| 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? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 10 2009 4:43PM |
| User who most recently changed record | grol |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |