The pilot stated that during an approach to landing in gusty crosswind conditions at the airport in West Plains, Missouri, the Arion Lightning LS-1 encountered turbulence about 10 feet above the runway and suddenly lost altitude.
The plane landed hard, and collapsed the nose landing gear, then exited the right side of the runway and collapsed the main landing gear.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing and fuselage.
A review of local weather data indicated that there was low level wind shear associated with high based convective activity approximately five miles north of the airport.
There were several pilot reports in the area indicating moderate turbulence below 10,000 feet. Additionally, two pilot reports for moderate turbulence below 2,000 feet and low level wind shear were made within an hour of the accident.
The National Weather Service issued an Airman’s Meteorological Advisory, current at the time of the accident, for turbulence below 10,000 feet.
Probable cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain control while landing in gusty wind conditions.
NTSB Identification: GAA15CA052
This April 2015 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
CMOONEYG says that is no surprise to me since I owned one of those S-LSA Lightning’s and managed to recover while rebounding, but with a wing tip dragging the grass on the left side of the runway. Had to abort the landing and go else where, where the runway was sheltered from the cross-wind, by a continuous line of trees, and landed safely, much to the relief of my passenger and me. Had to do some cosmetic wing tip repair and replace a landing strut on the left main gear. Ultimately sold it with due warning to the buyer to be mindful of the experimental nature of the aircraft.
I know of a Tri-Pacer that landed in windy, gusty conditions. While at a complete stop on the taxiway it was blown over by a quartering gust that lifted the tail. The pilot was cited for failure to maintain control.
The report says in it’s conclusion that the probable cause was the pilot’s FAILURE to maintain control in the stated weather conditions when it sounds more like the pilot’s INABILITY to maintain control. A wind shear at 10 feet when that landing flare would already be started is not exactly something that most pilots would be able to deal with in my opinion. However the NTSB always finds the pilot at fault it seems in these situations. I am sure there are plenty of pilots out there who claim Superman status and say they surely would have done better but they were not at the controls so we will never know. I say give this person the benefit of the doubt and concede that the sudden encounter of turbulence and wind shear just above the runway was not a situation the plane/pilot could have overcome. Now the best plan would have been to not be flying that day given the weather but we do not know what the motivations were there either so again it is best to give the pilot the benefit of the doubt.