N96MG

On May 22, 1999, at 1305 eastern daylight time, a Murray R. Gardner Fly Baby, N96MG, collided with the ground after the left wing separated in flight from the airframe as the pilot initiated a cruise descent to 1500 feet near Mount Olive, North Carolina. The personal flight was operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 with no flight plan filed. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The air transport pilot received minor injuries; the airplane was destroyed. The flight departed Greenville, North Carolina, at 1000.

According to the pilot, because the airplane had an open cockpit, the ambient temperature at the initial cruise altitude was too cool, and he decided to descend to a lower altitude for warmer temperatures. The pilot recalled that as the airplane descended through 1700 feet, the left wing assembly came up over the cockpit and separated from the airframe. The pilot reported that he always flew this airplane wearing a parachute, and as the airplane entered a spin he was ejected from the cockpit. After clearing the airframe, the pilot pulled the ripcord to deploy the parachute; a full parachute canopy was achieved 300 feet above the ground. The airplane collided with the ground in a nose low attitude; the pilot received minor injuries.

The airplane was recovered from the accident site for examination. During the examination of the airframe the left wing flying wire attachment plate was located and was discovered to have failed. The attachment plate fracture faces were examined with an optical microscope and were found to contain banding, typical of fatigue cracking, on both sides of the attachment hole. The fatigue cracking propagated nearly through the thickness of the plate. Elevated oxygen peaks, indicative of corrosion deposits, were also discovered. According to the pilot, the airplane had a total of 216 flight hours.