Rutan LONG-EZ-B N1695H

Summary

On 25 June 1983 at about 16:30 local time, a Rutan LONG-EZ-B registered N1695H was involved in an accident near Corning, California, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

25 June 1983 at 16:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Corning, California, United States

Coordinates

39.9197, -122.2791

Aircraft

Rutan LONG-EZ-B

Registration

N1695H

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Santa Rosa → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX83LA304

Nobody was injured.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

THE PLT & PASSENGER WERE PARTICIPATING IN THE CAFE 400 EFFICIENCY RACE. SHORTLY AFTER PASSING A CHECK POINT, A PORTION OF 1 PROPELLER BLADE SEPARATED & THE PLT SHUT DOWN THE ENG. HE ELECTED TO LAND ON AN INTERSTATE HIGHWAY BY MERGING INTO TRAFFIC. HOWEVER, HE WAS UNABLE TO CLEAR OVER AN OVERPASS & HAD TO GO UNDER. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE ACFT TOUCHED DOWN EARLY. BEFORE STOPPING, THE CANARD HIT & SCRATCHED AN AUTOMOBILE & THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH THE CENTER DIVIDER OF THE HIGHWAY, COLLAPSING THE NOSE GEAR & DAMAGING THE CANARD. THE PROPELLER WAS MADE FROM WOOD & WAS SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR RACING. THE TIP & OUTBOARD TRAILING EDGE OF THE FAILED BLADE HAD SPLIT & SEPARATED. REPORTEDLY, THE PROPELLER HAD BEEN FLOWN THRU DRIVING RAIN AT FULL POWER. ACCORDING TO A SERVICE MANAGER OF A PROPELLER MANUFACTURING FIRM, THE BLADE FAILURE MAY HAVE ORIGINATED WHERE IT WAS STRUCK BY AN OBJECT, BUT THIS WAS NOT VERIFIED.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.