Sonex WAIEX N220JD
22 March 2021 · Doylestown, Pennsylvania, United States · No injuries
Summary
On 22 March 2021 at about 21:00 local time, a Sonex WAIEX registered N220JD was involved in an accident near Doylestown, Pennsylvania, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.
The record
- Date
- at 21:00
- Classification
- Accident
- Location
- Doylestown, Pennsylvania, United States
- Nearest airport
- Doylestown Airport (DYL)
- Coordinates
- 40.3053, -75.1196
- Aircraft
- Sonex WAIEX
- Registration
- N220JD
- Category
- Airplane
- Year built
- 2019
- Engines
- 1
- Operator
- Not recorded
- Operating rule
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Purpose of flight
- Personal
- Phase of flight
- Not recorded
- Aircraft damage
- Substantial
- Weather
- VMC
- Light
- Day
- NTSB number
- ERA21LA396
People
Nobody was injured.
| On board | Died | Serious | Minor | Uninjured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Probable cause
The pilot’s failure to maintain a proper glidepath during landing. Contributing to the accident was his failure to ensure the canopy locks were properly configured prior to flight.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.
Read the full NTSB narrative
The pilot stated that he was performing maintenance on his airplane and running the engine at full throttle to verify the exhaust gas temperature was within limits. He said that after the last adjustment and anticipating another adjustment, he only latched the canopy enough to keep it in place while performing a test run on the ground. After the test run was performed, the pilot departed without properly securing the canopy. Shortly after takeoff, the canopy was “ripped off” the airplane and while returning to the runway, the approach was too low and the airplane contacted trees on short final. The airplane landed short of the runway and did “two pancakes” resulting in substantial damaged to the fuselage, and firewall. The pilot further stated there were no mechanical failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation prior to the accident.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.
Other Sonex WAIEX accidents
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Nov 2021 | Sonex WAIEX B | Laveen Village, Arizona, United States | Air-Spaces LLC | Minor injuries | - |
| 9 Aug 2022 | Sonex WAIEX | Maxwell, California, United States | - | Fatal | 1 |
| 3 Aug 2016 | Sonex WAIEX | Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, United States | Sonex Ltd | Serious injuries | - |
| 8 Feb 2008 | Sonex WAIEX | New Smyrna Bch., Florida, United States | - | No injuries | - |
Other accidents in this area
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 Mar 2021 | Piper PA-28-180 | West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States | Brandywine Flight School | No injuries | - |
| 1 Oct 2021 | Culp John S CULPS SPECL SOPWITH | Pottstown, Pennsylvania, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 4 Jul 2021 | Van's RV7 | Pottstown, Pennsylvania, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 30 Sep 2021 | Boeing E75 | Nicholson, Pennsylvania, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 20 Aug 2021 | North American SNJ-2 | Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States | Snj-2 Corp | Fatal | 1 |
| 25 Jun 2021 | Cessna 172S | Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, United States | Moyer Aviation Inc | No injuries | - |