RV-7A In-Flight Breakup HOBBS 676.5 hrs

For anyone that doesn't frequent the VAF site, I wanted to post this Canadian crash investigation report about an RV-7A in-flight breakup. I knew about this accident when it happened and the buzz was that the tail had seperated during a normal straight and level flight attitude. Of course, to hear such a thing gives every pilot some concern if you are building/flying.

The reason for the post is simple, if you are building, or have a flying RV, this report has some great information that every builder/owner should read. It was marvelously done by the Canadian version of our NTSB here in the United States. I wish the NTSB would be as in depth with their crash investigations, if they were, we might be safer pilots. Too many times you can't glean any useful information from an NTSB report...and it usually generically states, "pilot error". This report, on the other hand, is very detailed and well written, and although I think we can agree in the end it was pilot error, it gives you useful details as to why/how.

Before I go any further, let me say my heart goes out to the deceased pilot's family and friends. I hope this post doesn't come across as disrespectful to the pilot or them, that is not my intention. I believe we all have a duty as good, safe pilots to examine crash investigations and learn from them. None of us are perfect pilots, we all make mistakes, we can only try to minimize them as much as humanly possible.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions from the findings. As for me, these are my takeaways. Dont take this as a sermon of me telling you how to fly your airplane, I dont believe in that approach, this are just my views/comments as a way to hopefully make myself safer in the air and a better pilot.

1. The airframe design is sound, I firmly believe a design flaw did not contribute to this accident.

2. Adding weight to control surfaces should be carefully considered. I have done this sparingly on my plane, and although I believe they are safe, please be careful when doing your own. It does affect flutter characteristics, in fact it is directly proportional (ie, as weight increases, the possibility of catrastrophic failure due to flutter also increases).

3. With our advanced avionics (EFIS systems) and video camera's on board our planes these days, we are essentially able to provide 'black box' sort of information for post-crash analysis as this investigation clearly shows. This, in my opinion, can and will be very useful in the future to help us learn from others mistakes and ultimately fly safer. I advise everyone to program their EFIS to actually 'record' data during flight...sometimes, as with Dynon, its not the default setting...you manually have to set it up through the menu.

4. Don't exceed the airframe specifications, simple as that. Although, I'm sure this pilot didn't intend to. Flying at 34 knots above Vne is never a good idea, every plane has a point where it WILL break. As one poster stated on VAF, "you do that, and you're a test pilot", plain and simple.

5. A seemingly simple 'game' of "follow the leader" or pursuit formation flight can have disastrous consequences when done by a low time pilot also trying to video the lead plane. Both of these, in fact, seem like harmless fun all by themselves...but can lead to trouble if not given the respect they deserve. Think about how distracted you could become in that scenario, and before you know it, you are in deep trouble with no escape route...as quick as that. I would expect this would be an information overload situation for a low time pilot, get some real experience before doing this, and hopefully don't do it at low level.

6. Get some training if you want to wring out your RV with advanced flight techniques. Although these maneuvers by themselves dont appear to be advanced, the way they were conducted was. This guy had just a little more than 3 hrs aerobatic training and under 300 hrs total time. Just because your RV is aerobatic and you are legal to perform them, that doesn't mean you can handle every flight phase, or possibly get yourself into some real trouble. Learn how to do it properly and gradually build up your skills and activities. I dont advocate not doing it, because I plan to, just prepare yourself accordingly.

7. Lastly, and most importantly, this accident was preventable and didn't need to happen. If me posting this saves one pilot, it was well worth it to me. Fly safe guys and gals, and have fun while doing it!