The accident pilot had recently returned from an airshow, and had shared with his pilot associates that he thought he could roll his personal airplane. He had previously attempted to roll the airplane, but a pilot-rated passenger stopped the accident pilot from completing the aerobatic roll. On the accident flight, a ground witness, who is also a pilot, heard the accident airplane, and thought it sounded like the pilot was doing aerobatic maneuvers. He heard the engine noise continue to increase, and saw the airplane descending very fast, in a 45 to 60 degree nose down attitude. The witness then saw a portion of the airplane break away prior to impact. Postaccident inspection of the airplane by the NTSB investigator-in-charge and the NTSB Materials Laboratory, disclosed evidence of pilot-induced overload failures of the tail and wings. The accident pilot's airplane was not designed or approved for aerobatic flight.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:

Index for Apr2007 | Index of months