N414MT

HISTORY OF FLIGHTOn October 21, 2017, at 1612 Pacific daylight time, an EXTRA Flugzeugproduktions-und Vertriebs-GmbH, EA 300/L, N414MT, collided with terrain within the watershed of the El Capitan Reservoir, near Four Corners, California. The flight instructor and passenger sustained fatal injuries and the airplane was destroyed. The airplane was registered to KD Leasing, LLC, and was being operated by California Extreme Adventures, LLC, doing business as Sky Combat Ace (SCA), as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 instructional flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local flight, which departed Gillespie Field Airport (SEE), San Diego/El Cajon, California, at 1557.

SCA's website described itself as an "extreme aviation attraction," providing a series of aviation-related experiences, which it described as including aerobatics, air combat, and flight training. The accident flight was a 25-minute "Top Gun" experience which, according to sales literature, included "Advanced Aerobatics," "Basic Aerobatics," a "Low Level Bombing Run," "You Fly Maneuvers," and "You Fly Departure."

Ground-based radar tracking data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) indicated that the airplane departed from runway 17 at SEE and initiated a climbing left turn, reaching a transponder-reported altitude about 4,700 ft mean sea level (msl) about 5 nautical miles (nm) northeast of the airport. For the next 10 minutes, the airplane followed a track northeast along the general path of the San Diego River, then east of the El Capitan Reservoir and north toward the town of Four Corners. The track depicted a meandering path at varying airspeeds and altitudes between 4,300 and 6,300 ft msl in a manner consistent with aerobatic maneuvers. Multiple witnesses along the route reported seeing an airplane performing aerobatic maneuvers about the time indicated by the radar data.

At 1610, the airplane was about 15 nm from SEE and just north of the reservoir. It then began to track back to the southwest, climbing from 5,000 ft msl to 6,900 ft msl over the next 90 seconds. About 15 seconds later, the last radar return was recorded at the northern edge of the reservoir at an altitude of 3,800 ft msl (about 3,000 ft above ground level).

One witness, who was piloting a motorglider, was flying southwest and was inbound for SEE at 4,500 ft msl when she observed an airplane trailing white smoke and performing aerobatic maneuvers. The airplane was ahead of her and appeared to be at an altitude of about 3,500 ft msl at the northern end of the reservoir. As the witness's glider got closer to the airplane, the airplane was leveling out at the bottom of a loop when the smoke stopped. The witness was concerned that the other pilot would not see her, so she banked the glider to the left in order to present the glider's long wing profile to the other airplane for increased conspicuity. She then passed the airplane and did not see it again. The witness stated that the aerobatic maneuvers appeared standard and that the airplane did not appear to be in distress.

A witness who was in her residence about 3 miles north of the accident site stated that she was very familiar with the aerobatic operations in the area and had seen airplanes perform maneuvers in the same general location many times before. She stated that she was often drawn to look at the airplanes because she found the sound annoying. On this occasion, she noticed that the airplane was being flown either faster, more "recklessly," or more "intense" than usual, with sharper turns than she was used to seeing. She saw white smoke, but it was thicker than usual and lasted much longer. A short time later, the noise had stopped, and she saw a plume of smoke rising from the ground below.

Another witness was also about 3 miles north of the accident site. He saw the airplane perform two "giant" loops, after which it began to climb and then started to "corkscrew" toward the ground. It then disappeared behind a ridge. Initially, he did not think anything was unusual because he had previously seen airplanes perform similar maneuvers over the same area; however, a few minutes later, he saw smoke rising from behind the ridge.

Another witness, located at a camping area about 1 mile northeast of the accident site, stated that he could hear an airplane performing maneuvers. He said that he heard a "dive" sound like the sound airplanes typically make in movies. The engine noise then stopped, and he heard a "pop pop" sound, followed a few seconds later by the sound of an impact. He looked toward the direction of the impact sound and saw a rising plume of black smoke. PERSONNEL INFORMATIONFlight Instructor

The pilot was hired by SCA in May 2017, and according to the president of SCA, quickly came to be considered one of the company's most dependable and reliable pilots. The president stated that he was a good mentor, was conservative in nature, and provided supervision for some of the younger pilots. He further stated that the pilot was well-suited to work unsupervised at SCA's smaller SEE location.

The pilot's resume included experience in manufacturing and engineering until 2002, when he began to work as both a flight instructor and a commercial air tour pilot in the Southern California area. His experience included aerobatic, tailwheel, and emergency maneuver training in both the Pitts and Extra 200 series of aerobatic airplanes.

The pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single- and multiengine land and instrument airplane. He also held a flight instructor certificate with ratings for airplane single- and multiengine, instrument airplane, and ground instructor (advanced).

His most recent FAA medical examination was conducted on December 12, 2016, following which he was issued a second-class medical certificate with the limitation that he must wear corrective lenses.

The last entry in the pilot's flight logbook was dated October 15, 2017. At that time, he had documented 4,289.3 total hours of flight experience, with 2,246.2 as a flight instructor. The logbooks revealed that he had accrued about 113 hours of total flight experience in the Extra 300 series, all since he first flew the type as part of his SCA initial hire training in May 2017. There were no entries indicating that he had flown the accident airplane; review of SCA records indicated that the accident flight was likely the third time he had flown it. The Extra 300 airplane that he usually flew was being used in Florida as part of an event. It was used because it was more suited for the cross-country trip, because it had a heater and autopilot, unlike the accident airplane.

SCA's base of operations was located near Las Vegas at Henderson Executive Airport (HND), Henderson, Nevada. The pilot was based in San Diego, and the day before the accident, he flew from there to Las Vegas by commercial airline and had dinner with SCA employees that night. SCA had sleeping quarters in Henderson. According to a company employee, all rooms were taken the night before the accident, so the pilot slept on a couch (which he had done before). He was observed to retire about 2200. No witnesses observed what time the pilot woke up, but one stated that it was not unusual for him to rise at 0600 and go for a run. All individuals who were with him stated that he was in good spirits, and none observed anything out of the ordinary.

About 1000 on the morning of the accident, the pilot flew a customer on a group combat mission from HND in an Extra 300 airplane. He then flew back to the SEE facility in the accident airplane with the company's director of marketing. The accident flight was his third flight of the day.

Passenger

The passenger did not hold any FAA pilot or medical certificates. He had had flown with SCA on a similar flight in December 2015 out of SCA's HND location. AIRCRAFT INFORMATIONThe tandem-seat normal and aerobatic category airplane was manufactured in 2009, imported into the US in 2013, and purchased by KD leasing on May 10, 2017. The airplane was equipped with dual flight controls, a Lycoming six-cylinder AEIO-580-B1A engine, and a three-blade hydraulic constant-speed propeller manufactured by MT Propellers. FAA and maintenance records did not reveal any modifications to the airplane beyond the installation of a remote oil filter kit. According to the maintenance records, at the time of the last 100-hour inspection on October 1, 2017, the airframe and engine had accrued a total of 186.57 flight hours.

The airplane had a basic empty weight of 1,513 lbs and a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 2,095 lbs. The maneuvering speed limitation (Va) in the aerobatic category was 158 knots indicated (KIAS). The never-exceed (Vne) speed was 220 KIAS. The airplane was placarded with the following:

CAUTION: Particular caution must be exercised when performing maneuvers at speeds above Va (158 KIAS). Large or abrupt control inputs above this speed may impose unacceptably high loads which exceed the structural capability of the aircraft.

The airplane had g limitations in the aerobatic category of +/-10 g. This limit was only allowed with one person onboard, at a MTOW of 1,808 lbs. In a two-person configuration, the limits were +/-8 g at 1,918 lbs MTOW and +/-6 g at 2,095 lbs MTOW.

The pilot was seated in the rear seat for the accident flight. With a pilot weight of 173 lbs, passenger weight of 195 lbs, 30 lbs of parachute equipment and 25 gallons of fuel, the airplane's weight on the accident flight would have been about 2,061 lbs.

The airplane was equipped with a mechanical accelerometer (g-meter) which had a sweep range of -6 g to +10 g. The unit had maximum and minimum g needles that recorded the highest and lowest sensed g values, respectively. Both needles could be reset to zero using a button on the front of the instrument bezel.

The airplane was equ...