Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Merritt Island Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Merritt Island, Florida 32953
Monday, June 9, 2014 20:36 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On June 9, 2014, about 2036 eastern daylight time, a Liberty Aerospace, Incorporated XL-2, N516XL, crashed in a residential area approximately 1.5 nautical miles north-northwest of Merritt Island Airport, Merritt Island, Florida. The private-rated passenger seated in the left seat and commercial-rated pilot seated in the right seat were fatally injured. The airplane was destroyed. The airplane was registered to Spatial, Inc., and operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed. The time of departure from Merritt Island Airport has not been determined.
A friend of the pilot reported seeing the airplane at the departure airport at 1930; though the time of departure was not determined.
The owner seated in the right seat was checking out the left seat occupant who intended on renting the airplane for personal use.
The direction of flight after takeoff was not determined. One witness reported to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector-in-charge observing the airplane flying 200 feet above ground, then bank to the east. The nose then pitched down, and during the nose-low descent, the witness reported hearing a popping sound from the engine which became quiet and then popped again.
Another witness, reported to the FAA-IIC observing the airplane flying about 300-400 feet above the ground with the aircraft spinning in a nose down attitude. He then lost sight of the airplane.
Still another witness reported to the FAA-IIC hearing a swooshing sound and realized it was an aircraft. He noted that the engine was not running and the airplane was a couple hundred feet in the air as he saw it go straight down like from 12 to 6 o'clock. He called 911 to report the accident.
The homeowner adjacent to where the airplane crashed reported to NTSB that on the date and time of the accident, he was inside his house in his kitchen. He reported it was still light out, and he heard a loud sound that shook his house. He reported prior to the impact he did not hear an engine sound. It took him about 1 minute to find his phone, and he called 911 at 2036.
FAA personnel reported there was no record of any ATC contact, no flight plan, and no contact with Lockheed Martin Automated Flight Service Station, or either Direct User Access Terminal (DUAT) vendor.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/9/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 2036 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Merritt Island |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32953 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 282205N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0804115W |
| Event Location Airport | Merritt Island Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | COI |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 355 |
| Airport Elevation | 6 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2058 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 154 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | COF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 8 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 9 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 24 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| 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) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Southern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 19 2014 1:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N516XL |
| NTSB Number | ERA14FA282 |
| 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 | LIBERTY AEROSPACE INCORPORATED |
| Aircraft Model | XL-2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0011 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1653 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 15 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 616 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | C91-A |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SPATIAL, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | MERRITT ISLAND |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 32952-7222 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | SPATIAL, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | MERRITT ISLAND |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 32952-7222 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | COI |
| Departure City | Merritt Island |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | COI |
| Destination City | Merritt Island |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 19 2014 1:17PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| 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 | -- |