Amateur-built RV7 N731RV accident near Arlington, Arizona

Probable cause

The inflight overstress separation of the vertical stabilizer and rudder during flight which resulted in the pilot's inability to maintain airplane control. Contributing to the accident was an inflight collision with a bird.

NTSB analysis

The airline transport pilot and private pilot-rated passenger were in cruise flight when radar contact was lost. Wreckage and impact signatures revealed that the airplane impacted the ground in an inverted, left-wing-down, nose-down attitude. The cockpit canopy, vertical stabilizer, and rudder were found about 1 mile from the main wreckage. Examination of the engine found no abnormalities that would have precluded normal operation.

Examination of the airframe revealed biological matter in a dented section underneath the horizontal stabilizer, as well as bird feathers in the cockpit under the passenger seat. DNA and microscopic examination of the specimens were consistent with a rock pigeon. All fracture surfaces examined were consistent with overstress failure; there were no indications of any preexisting damage such as cracks or corrosion. The fracture surfaces of the spars, skins, stabilizers, and other components from the horizontal stabilizer, vertical stabilizer, and rudder assemblies exhibited features consistent with secondary fractures (such as from ground impact or after the bird strike). There were no clear indications that any of the components that fractured in overstress did so prior to ground impact or independently of the bird strike. It is possible that the pilot made an evasive maneuver before or during impact with the bird, that in combination, resulted in an overstress structural failure of the, vertical stabilizer and rudder, which in turn resulted in the pilot's inability to maintain control of the airplane.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for WPR17FA134 for the full record.