The pilot reported that during level flight, the MG-1’s canopy suddenly opened, so he elected to land the airplane on a dirt road near Madera, California.
On approach to the dirt road, he encountered power lines and climbed to avoid them, then continued the emergency approach to the road.
When the airplane touched down on the dirt road, it veered aggressively to the left, becoming airborne momentarily, then landing in a ditch and nosing over before coming to rest inverted.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings and fuselage. The pilot sustained minor injuries in the crash.
Probable Cause: An emergency landing on uneven terrain that resulted in the loss of directional control during landing.
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This September 2023 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.
Wow!! Reading the pilot’s report and compairing that to the probable cause, things do not match. That the canopy opened and was promptly ripped off doing damage to the plane so that that it was banking to the right…. and upon touchdown on a dirt road it verered to the left…
Pilot noted that the canopy latches but there is no locking mechanism and felt that needs to be addressed.
So this pilot did what is needed (aviated, navigated, and didn’t stop flying it until it stopped), he flew the plane as best he could and tried to do an emergency landing, had to abort that because of power lines (note his head set had been blown off, he had so much wind in his face that he had to crouch down to get out of the wind to be able to see… A lot going on that got was ignored and then stamped “Probable Cause: An emergency landing….” NOTHING said about loss of canopy or why.
I can tell you that with a helmet, and no face shield on a motorcycle doing 100 MPH, it is difficult to see in front of you. A pair of glasses — sunglasses would have made a difference.
There is a lot of “startle factor”, along with a lot of adrenalin when something loud/exciting happens. This is when you need to ask yourself if the aircraft is still flying. IS IT?? If it is FLY THE AIRPLANE!! (If it’s not perfectly controllable can you control it well enough to continue?)…. Think open door/cowl/canopy. A dead engine is still FLYABLE. NOW…….Count to TEN! Do it out loud!…. After “TEN”… decide what’s best. Make a PLAN, run your checklist. Your plan is subject to change if conditions really change…. Then do the best job of following your plan. This is why I always fly with enough altitude to allow me to count after the excitement starts (except in actual combat.. Above 50 ft agl yer a target in a Dustoff helo. …I’ve landed on a road with a dead engine, I’ve landed in a rye field with a dead engine. In my 57 years of flying I’ve succeeded in only breaking one and slightly bending one… but in each case we lived and the airplanes were even repairable. OH… each of the “problem children” were older than I…. And I’m old…and a nervous old combat helicopter pilot…Oh… yeah, there was one that became a parts bin but it had lots of holes in it…. That doesn’t count but it did FLY…all the way to the landing pad. LOL.