Amateur-built AVENTURA II N709CW accident near Meritt Island, Florida

Probable cause

The pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane during final approach to land, which resulted in an exceedance of the airplane’s critical angle of attack, aerodynamic stall, and collision with a fence and terrain.

NTSB analysis

The pilot had accrued 954 total hours of flight experience but had only flown about 3.2 hours during four flights in the experimental amateur-built amphibious accident airplane. The pilot departed from a grass area next to a runway at the airport where he kept the airplane. After an uneventful local flight he returned to the airport to land. He performed go-arounds during the first two landing approaches due to being either too high or too fast. During the third landing attempt, the pilot thought the approach looked “OK” but then he noticed that he was too low, and too slow, so he increased engine power and applied slight up elevator. The pilot explained that the engine was on top of the wing (mounted in a pusher configuration) and normally when power was added the airplane would initially pitch down but would level off and then climb. The pilot described that this time though when he was too slow (about 45 knots), he added an extra amount of power, which pushed the nose down and made the airplane descend. He then “got scared,” “gave too much up elevator,” and believed that the airplane entered an aerodynamic stall. The airplane then struck the ground and a fence at an airspeed of about 55 knots. The pilot was seriously injured and postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the fuselage was substantially damaged. The pilot reported that during the accident flight, the flight controls and engine all operated normally.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for ERA22LA332 for the full record.