Apollo MONSOON N156AP

Summary

On 20 March 2019 at about 19:08 local time, a Apollo MONSOON registered N156AP was involved in an accident near Sharpsburg, Georgia, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

20 March 2019 at 19:08

Classification

Accident

Location

Sharpsburg, Georgia, United States

Nearest airport

Rolling Meadows Airfield (29GA)

Coordinates

33.3832, -84.6317

Aircraft

Apollo MONSOON

Registration

N156AP

Year built

2009

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Atlanta → Sharpsburg

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA19LA132

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during landing, which resulted in a collision with trees. Contributing to the accident was the pilot’s failure to obtain instruction in the weight-shift control aircraft.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot departed in his recently purchased weight-shift control aircraft. He reported that he had experienced controllability issues on the previous flight and had “switched some rigging around” before the accident flight. A camera mounted on the pilot’s helmet captured the 15-minute accident flight. The pilot made several low passes before landing, and after touching down on the runway, the video shoed the pilot moving the control bar fully forward and left; the aircraft responded to these inputs and veered to the right. The aircraft subsequently impacted trees and was substantially damaged; the pilot was seriously injured. Before the accident, the pilot was told by the aircraft’s previous owner that weight-shift control aircraft, specifically with the sport wing installed (as on the accident aircraft), were difficult to control and that he should obtain additional flight instruction. The pilot did not hold the necessary pilot certificate rating, nor did he have any logbook endorsements that would have allowed him to operate the weight-shift control aircraft. Additionally, his logbook showed that he had accumulated 5 total hours of flight experience in weight-shift control aircraft, all nearly 10 years before the accident. No records were available to show that he had received any flight instruction in the accident aircraft. Given that the aircraft was controllable during the flight leading up to the accident, it is unlikely that the loss of control was the result of mis-rigging; however, it is likely that the pilot’s lack of experience in weight-shift control aircraft, and decision to operate the aircraft without appropriate training contributed to his loss of control.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.