Amateur-built CELEBRITY N70785 accident near Terrell, Texas

Probable cause

The pilot’s exceedance of the airplane’s design stress limits while performing aerobatic maneuvers.

NTSB analysis

Witnesses reported seeing the airplane performing a series of loops and rolls and then sections of the wings separating from the airplane before it descended and impacted terrain. A postaccident examination of the wreckage revealed that the wing failure initiated at the bottom of the right outboard forward wing strut. This failure allowed the right upper wing to rise, which placed an overload stress on the upper wing spar and bottom right wing. The top wing spar separated in the area left of the fuselage struts. The entire upper wing and lower right wing folded up and rearward and then separated from the airplane. All of the separations were consistent with overload failures, indicating that the pilot exceeded the airplane's design stress limits while performing aerobatic maneuvers.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN13LA186 for the full record.