What happened
On 14 April 2019 an Aeroprakt A22LS Foxbat, registered 24-8140, collided with terrain while conducting mustering operations on Aldville Station, approximately 120 km north-west of Cunnamulla, Queensland. The pilot was fatally injured and the aircraft sustained substantial damage.
Recreational Aviation Australia (RAAus) commenced an investigation and requested assistance from the ATSB to:
- conduct detailed examination of a control system component and a section of wing fabric
- download data from a damaged GPS unit that was on board the aircraft at the time of the accident.
To facilitate this work, the ATSB initiated an external investigation under the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003.
Results
The ATSB conducted visual inspections and microscopic analyses on an eyebolt from the control system (Figure 1) and a piece of damaged wing fabric. Analyses of the eyebolt determined that it had failed due to overstress with no indication of fatigue. The wing fabric analyses indicated that the damage was consistent with that expected as a result of the ground impact.
Figure 1: Failed eyebolt showing fracture surface
Source: ATSB
The ATSB undertook data recovery from an accident damaged Lowrance Airmap 2000c GPS unit. A raw binary data file was recovered through a direct download of non-volatile memory. The file was unable to be interpreted by the ATSB and was supplied to RAAus.
With the completion of the examinations and data recovery, the ATSB has concluded its involvement in the investigation of this accident. Any further enquiries in relation to the investigation should be directed to Recreational Aviation Australia.
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This report has been released in accordance with section 25 of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003.