Accident Evektor-Aerotechnik EV-97 EuroStar OH-U430,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 75367
 
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Date:Wednesday 30 June 2010
Time:13:05 LT
Type:Silhouette image of generic EV97 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Evektor-Aerotechnik EV-97 EuroStar
Owner/operator:Private
Registration: OH-U430
MSN: 2003 1716
Fatalities:Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage: Substantial
Category:Accident
Location:1 km W of Jämijärvi airfield -   Finland
Phase: Initial climb
Nature:Private
Departure airport:Jämijärvi Airfield - EFJM
Destination airport:Tampere-Pirkkala Airport - EFTP
Investigating agency: AIB Finland
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
An aircraft accident took place in the vicinity of Jämijärvi airfield on Wednesday 30 June 2010 at 13.05. An EV-97 Eurostar ultralight aircraft on a cross-country flight crashed to the ground soon after take-off and was totally destroyed. Both the pilot of the aircraft and the passenger were killed.
The purpose of the flight was to pick up a passenger from Jämijärvi airfield and after that fly to Tampere-Pirkkala aerodrome. Soon after take-off the canopy of the aircraft opened and among others, documents and the pilot’s and aircraft’s briefcases fell from the aircraft. After the canopy opened the aircraft flew at about 120 metres altitude loosing airspeed. After a short phase of level flight the altitude diminished quickly to about 50 metres. Before hitting the ground the altitude increased a little, at the same time the airspeed diminished and the aircraft heading changed strongly to the left. The aircraft hit the ground less than a minute after the take-off in a nearly horizontal position a little over a kilometre to the west of the airfield.
The opening of the canopy was likely due to a strong and gusty wind and the locking mechanism of the canopy. The aerodynamic forces created by gusts cause momentary changes in the aircraft’s structures, under these kind of circumstances, according to the manufacturer, the original locking mechanism is not sufficient. The manufacturer has tried to improve the reliability of the locking system by publishing a bulletin giving instructions to change the new parts to the locking system which prevent opening of the locking during momentary structural changes. Parts had been changed into the canopy locking mechanism of the aircraft, but one part considerably contributing to the reliability of locking had not been changed. The factor most contributing to this was that the instructions in the published bulletin for assembling the delivered alteration parts were inadequate. Another reason for not changing the part was the aircraft owners’ understanding that the changed parts increased the reliability of the locking the way they expected.
The reason of the accident was loss of aircraft control after the canopy opened during flight. An open canopy causes with its airflow disturbances a strong vibration to the horizontal stabilizer and elevator as well as stick and a considerable nose down effect to flight characteristics. Also the fact that the pilot probably tried to close the canopy contributed to the loss of control of the aircraft
as monitoring the flight parameters was neglected.
The aircraft canopy likely opened due to momentary changes to canopy structure caused by aerodynamic forces of the strong gusty wind. To prevent this kind of unintentional opening of the canopy the manufacturer has improved the canopy locking mechanism by new alteration parts. All new parts had not been assembled into the accident aircraft.

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: AIB Finland
Report number: 
Status: Investigation completed
Duration:
Download report: Final report

Sources:

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/two_killed_in_small_plane_crash/5589420
Satakunnan Kansa

http://www.airliners.net/photos/airliners/1/7/8/0451871.jpg (photo)

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
30-Jun-2010 23:12 slowkid Added
01-Jul-2010 22:12 slowkid Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Departure airport, Source]
01-Jul-2010 22:52 RobertMB Updated [Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source]
25-Feb-2020 18:46 harro Updated [Time, Location, Phase, Narrative, Accident report, ]

Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description

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