Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Redlands Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Redlands, California 92374
Wednesday, September 16, 2009 16:42 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot of the experimental light-sport airplane had just completed a 40-minute-flight, and was turning from the downwind to base leg when at 450 feet above ground level, the airplane rapidly descended and collided with terrain below. The damage to the forward section of the fuselage, the position of the main wreckage, and the minimal damage to surrounding trees indicated a near vertical impact attitude. The location of the right wing, along with the aft downward bending damage observed to its main spars and tensile failure of the forward spar attach point, indicated that the wing separated from the airplane in a down and aft motion during flight. The airplane's flight profile was not conducive to a negative overload failure of the right wing. The outboard right wing ribs failed in tensile overload, and the wing fabric material was observed attached only at the aft spar, and in-trail of the wing. These signatures indicated that the material had become separated from the wing structure in flight. The separation most likely created a high drag, ‘parachute’ effect with resultant failure of the wing. The airplane was built about 18 years prior to the accident, and appeared to have been flown as an unregistered airplane prior to purchase by the two pilots. New wing covering had been installed by the pilots the year prior to the accident, and cursory tensile testing of fabric samples revealed that the material had a breaking strength comparable to similar light aircraft fabric. The pilot-rated passenger was an insulin-dependent diabetic, however, it was not possible to determine whether his condition had any relation to the circumstances of the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Structural failure of the right wing during the landing approach due to the separation of the wing's fabric covering.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/16/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1642 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Redlands |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92374 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340446n |
| Event Location Longitude | 1170743w |
| Event Location Airport | Redlands Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | REI |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1571 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1651 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 278 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SBD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1159 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 6 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 11000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.81 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 27167 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 24 2010 1:11PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N732LS |
| NTSB Number | WPR09LA453 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | QUAD CITY |
| Aircraft Model | CHALLENGER II |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | CH2 0991-0732 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1010 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 18 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 18 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Chad C Kelly/Harwood B Fowler |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Carlsbad |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92009 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Harwood B Fowler |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Yorba Linda |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 92886 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | F70 |
| Departure City | French Valley |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1602 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | REI |
| Destination City | Redlands |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 15 2010 3:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26 |
| Runway Length | 4505 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |