Aermacchi IMPALA MB-326M N155TP

Summary

On 5 March 2021 at about 18:10 local time, a Aermacchi IMPALA MB-326M registered N155TP, operated by National Test Pilot School, was involved in an accident near Edwards, California, United States. 2 people were on board and one was seriously injured, one had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

5 March 2021 at 18:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Edwards, California, United States

Coordinates

34.9189, -118.0384

Aircraft

Aermacchi IMPALA MB-326M

Registration

N155TP

Category

Airplane

Year built

1967

Engines

1

Operator

National Test Pilot School

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mojave → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR21LA123

1 person was seriously injured.

The flight crew’s restricted rudder inputs while in an inverted spin that precluded spin recovery.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor and the pilot receiving instruction reported that the intent for the flight in the light military jet trainer was spin data collection. Before the accident, they performed several maneuvers, including a left inverted spin, without incident. From an altitude of about 22,000 ft mean sea level (msl), the pilot receiving instruction made flight control inputs that placed the airplane in a second inverted left spin. After three revolutions, he attempted to recover from the spin to no avail. The flight instructor assumed control of the airplane and attempted a recovery. However, the spin rate and negative G forces continued to increase and pushed the instructor out of his seat. The flight instructor could only touch the right rudder with his toes and was not able to apply sufficient right rudder control input to recover from the spin. Unable to recover and reaching the ejection decision altitude, he ordered ejection. The pilot receiving instruction and the flight instructor ejected, and the airplane descended to ground impact. Postaccident examination of the airplane did not reveal evidence of any mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The pilot receiving instruction reported that he reviewed the accident with the operator’s chief pilot while he was seated in a similar type of airplane. While seated normally, he was able to move the rudder pedals to the full left and right deflection. However, the clearance between his shins and the instrument panel was reduced in a simulated negative G scenario; his range of motion was very limited as he could only use his toes to activate the rudder pedals. He further reported having difficulties applying rudder deflection during the recovery of both inverted spins on the day of the accident due to his shins contacting the instrument panel. It is likely that the negative G forces during the inverted spin pushed the pilot receiving instruction’s shins into the instrument panel, which restricted his ability to fully deflect the rudder pedals. Further, when the flight instructor took control, he was also unable to fully deflect the rudder pedals due to the high negative G forces pushing him out of his seat. Therefore, the flight crew was unable to recover from the inverted spin and had to eject from the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.