Duci's Vans RV-3 N99HV

Summary

On 8 March 1998 at about 22:10 local time, a Duci's Vans RV-3 registered N99HV was involved in an accident near Elbert, Colorado, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

8 March 1998 at 22:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Elbert, Colorado, United States

Coordinates

39.2200, -104.5306

Aircraft

Duci's Vans RV-3

Registration

N99HV

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW98FA145

1 person died.

in-flight failure of the right wing spar (for an undetermined reason) as the pilot was performing aerobatic flight. The airplane's excessive gross weight (for aerobatics) was a related factor.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

A witness said the pilot was performing aerobatics, and while maneuvering, the aircraft (acft) went into a nose high attitude as if it was coming to the top of a loop. He said one of the wings suddenly 'folded' up, and 'It looked as if it had bent at the connection between the wing and the fuselage. . . .' The acft then entered an uncontrolled descent & crashed. Metallurgical exam of the right wing revealed overload fractures in the lower & upper main spar caps, which were indicative of upward failure; initial fracture was in the lower cap area. Twisting & upward bending of the main upper spar cap was noted, as well as 'overstress separation.' Five bolt holes were found at the inboard portion of the upper & lower main spar caps with no respective bolts or remnants of such bolts. No deformation or distortion of any of the bolt holes was noted, but circular markings were noted on the forward side of both outboard holes, & similar indications were noted on the aft side of 2 other holes in the lower main spar cap. The investigation did not determine whether the missing bolts had failed & separated during the breakup, or if they had not been reinstalled during previous maintenance/modification. All rivets in both the upper & lower main spar caps were broken through the shanks 'consistent with direct shear separations. No evidence of cracking or breaking of rivet heads . . . was noted.' This was 1 of 3 RV-3s built by Tony Duci & the 2nd to structurally fail in flight. Acft had been modified as an RV-3A, but had not been re-certified as such. Aerobatic gross weight limit (1,050 lbs) had been exceeded by an estimated 120 lbs.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.