Morrison E-RACER N345JM

Summary

On 21 June 2008 at about 17:30 local time, a Morrison E-RACER registered N345JM was involved in an accident near Aurora, Illinois, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

21 June 2008 at 17:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Aurora, Illinois, United States

Nearest airport

Chicago/Aurora Muni (ARR)

Coordinates

41.7719, -88.4756

Aircraft

Morrison E-RACER

Registration

N345JM

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Aurora → Urbana

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI08LA169

Nobody was injured.

An undetermined failure in the high-pressure fuel system, and the subsequent loss of engine power and in-flight fire. Contributing to the accident were the pilot's restricted visibility due to the smoke in the cockpit, failure of the aileron control during landing flare, and the collapse of the left main landing gear due to the hard landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot experienced a complete loss of engine power during initial climb after takeoff. The airplane was about 1 mile from the airport at 2,000 feet mean sea level at the time. The pilot elected to return to the airport for landing and notified the air traffic control tower accordingly. The cockpit began to fill with smoke, and shortly afterward the pilot reported noticing a fire in the cockpit near the firewall. The pilot successfully continued an approach to the departure runway, intermittently losing visual contact with the runway due to the smoke in the cockpit. On short final, he applied full left aileron and rudder inputs in an attempt to align the airplane for landing; however, the aileron control failed at that time. The airplane landed hard and the left main landing gear collapsed. The airplane spun around and came to rest about 1,500 feet from the runway threshold. The pilot successfully evacuated the airplane, which was subsequently consumed by the fire. The post accident examination was unable to locate the exact source of the fire. The pilot commented that the extent and rapid progression of the fire was consistent with a failure in the high-pressure fuel system.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.