Accident Fisher Celebrity N228LC,
ASN logo
ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 213545
 
This information is added by users of ASN. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information. If you feel this information is incomplete or incorrect, you can submit corrected information.

Date:Thursday 19 July 2018
Time:17:00
Type:Fisher Celebrity
Owner/operator:Private
Registration: N228LC
MSN: AV1076
Year of manufacture:1995
Engine model:Continental O-200-A
Fatalities:Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage: Destroyed
Category:Accident
Location:Switzerland County, York Township, Florence, IN -   United States of America
Phase: En route
Nature:Private
Departure airport:Warsaw, KY
Destination airport:Warsaw, KY
Investigating agency: NTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
The airline transport pilot was conducting a personal flight in his recently-purchased experimental, amateur-built biplane when the airplane experienced an in-flight breakup and subsequently impacted a cornfield. There were no witnesses to the accident. The upper and lower left wings were attached to each other but were separated from the fuselage. Part of the lower right wing was located with the wreckage but not attached to the fuselage. Additional parts of the upper and lower right wings were found scattered throughout an area between 400 yards to 800 yards west of the impact area, and other parts of the wings were found about 80 yards from the wreckage; however, the majority of the wing structure was not found.

The right wing attachment fittings displayed fractures intersecting the inboard wing spar attachment bolt hole. The fracture features for each attachment fitting were rough and matte gray in appearance, consistent with ductile overstress fracture and with upward bending of the wing at the attachment location. The outboard end of the attachment fitting piece for the aft spar was also bent aft relative to the inboard end, consistent with the entire upper and lower right wings folding upward and rearward, bending and separating from the airplane. Because this airplane is a biplane, the upward bending of the lower wing attachment was secondary to a primary failure elsewhere, the location of which could not be determined due to the fact that a majority of the wing structure was unrecovered. There was no evidence of any preexisting damage on the wing spar attachment fittings.

Probable Cause: An in-flight separation of the right wing due to upward and rearward bending that led to an overstress fracture. The reason for the upward and rearward bending could not be determined based on the available information.

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: NTSB
Report number: CEN18FA282
Status: Investigation completed
Duration: 1 year and 3 months
Download report: Final report

Sources:

NTSB

FAA register: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N228LC

Location

Images:


Photo: NTSB


Photo: NTSB

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
20-Jul-2018 21:20 Geno Added
20-Jul-2018 21:42 Geno Updated [Source]
20-Aug-2018 19:10 Iceman 29 Updated [Source, Damage, Narrative]
01-Nov-2018 18:21 Anon. Updated [Departure airport]
12-Nov-2019 17:48 ASN Update Bot Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Accident report, ]
12-Nov-2019 20:04 harro Updated [Source, Narrative, Photo]
12-Nov-2019 20:06 harro Updated [Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Photo]

Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description

The Aviation Safety Network is an exclusive service provided by:
Quick Links:

CONNECT WITH US: FSF on social media FSF Facebook FSF Twitter FSF Youtube FSF LinkedIn FSF Instagram

©2024 Flight Safety Foundation

1920 Ballenger Av, 4th Fl.
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
www.FlightSafety.org