Eipper QUICKSILVER accident near Fredericksburg, VA
On December 14, 2018, an Eipper QUICKSILVER (airplane) was involved in an accident near Fredericksburg, VA. 1 person died. Damage to the aircraft: substantial.
- Date
- December 14, 2018
- Place
- Fredericksburg, VA
- Aircraft
- Eipper QUICKSILVER · Airplane
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Substantial
- Position
- 38.259°N, 77.444°W
- NTSB ID
- 20181214X02810
Official records · ERA19FA066
- Public docket: reports, statements and exhibits from the investigation
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn December 14, 2018, at 0740 eastern standard time, an experimental amateur-built Quicksilver MXL II, N350FT, was substantially damaged after it impacted terrain near Shannon Airport (EZF), Fredericksburg, Virginia. The commercial pilot was fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local flight, which originated around 0738. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Airport surveillance video depicted the accident airplane as it took off from runway 24 at EZF, and showed a flight path consistent with the upwind, and crosswind legs of the traffic pattern before the airplane flew out of the camera's view. Track data downloaded from two GPS receivers recovered from the accident site depicted a ground track consistent with that on the video. The track data showed that the initial climb and crosswind leg were flown at a groundspeed of about 50 knots. The airplane reached a GPS altitude of 322 ft and a groundspeed of about 51 knots before the airplane began to turn to the left. The left turn continued from the crosswind to downwind legs. At that point, the airplane should have been parallel with the runway, but instead the radius of the turn continued to tighten. The airplane descended to 285 ft and slowed to a groundspeed of 29 knots, which was the airplane's last recorded GPS position; at that time, the airplane was above the accident site. An airframe-mounted video camera recovered at the accident site captured the airplane taxiing and departi
Probable cause
The pilot's exceedance of the airplane's critical angle of attack, which led to an aerodynamic stall while turning in the traffic pattern at low altitude.
More accidents in VA
- Boeing 757-200, Sep 11, 2001
- Beech B99, Sep 23, 1985
- Beech 65, Sep 10, 1995
- Beech 200, Oct 24, 2004
- Piper PA-31-310, Nov 14, 1982
Browse: Virginia
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
