CHI88DEC02

1988-05-25 · PONTIAC, Michigan, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport PTK

Aircraft involved

N889HC CHAPPEL RATSREPUS 300 Fatal

Probable cause & findings

DESTRUCTIVE WING/AILERON FLUTTER IS SUSPECTED, BUT NOT SUFFICIENTLY SUBSTANTIATED THROUGH RESEARCH AND CALCULATIONS TO BE CITED AS THE PROBABLE CAUSE OF THIS ACCIDENT.

Factual narrative

THE PILOT WAS TESTING THIS EXPERIMENTAL ACROBATIC AIRCRAFT, MAKING A SECOND LOW PASS OVER THE RUNWAY WHEN A PORTION OF THE LEFT WING SEPARATED FROM THE AIRCRAFT, FOLLOWED BY LOSS OF THE LEFT AILERON, 1 1/2 ROLLS TO THE LEFT AND GROUND IMPACT. THE AIRFRAME TOTAL TIME WAS 4 HOURS. ON-SCENE INSPECTION REVEALED NO MASS BALANCE IN THE AILERONS. WITNESSES ESTIMATE SPEEDS AT OR ABOVE 150 MPH. A DESIGNATED ENGINEERING REPRESENTATIVE IN THE AREA OF FLUTTER AND VIBRATION STATED HE HAD RECOMMENDED THAT THE AIRSPEED BE LIMITED TO A MAXIMUM SPEED OF APPROXIMATELY 135 MPH UNTIL GROUND VIBRATION TESTS WERE CONDUCTED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1988_CHI88DEC02.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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