SeaMax breaks up mid flight over Long Island

[NovemberEcho]

A SeaMax LSA had a wing separate mid flight and crashed over Long Island last week. It was a 6 month old plane. Wx was CAVU and smooth rides, absolutely gorgeous day. This is apparently the second time a wing has come off a SeaMax, there was an accident in Italy in Feb ‘21 where the right wing separated at the root.

Seamax Aircraft SeaMax M-22, N46PD: Fatal accident occurred October 06, 2022 in East Hampton, Suffolk County, New York

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final repor...

www.kathrynsreport.com

 

[BobDDuck]

A friend of mine has one down near FLL. He loves the thing and flies it all the time. Hopefully there is a quick fix for this if it is a systemic problem.

 

[Cherokee_Cruiser]

Is it me or is Kathryns Report asking to sign into google to verify age due to mature content? Never had that happen before for KR.

 

[Murdoughnut]

Is it me or is Kathryns Report asking to sign into google to verify age due to mature content? Never had that happen before for KR.

It did for me too. That website does all sorts of weird things.

 

[Fixtur]

I saw that accident aircraft take off from JPX (formerly HTO) a dozen times this summer.

 

[NovemberEcho]

I saw that accident aircraft take off from JPX (formerly HTO) a dozen times this summer.

How often are you at HTO? We should grab a beer some time.

 

[Fixtur]

In the summer? Like 4 times a day. This time a year maybe a couple times a week. I thought you were in New Jersey?

 

[msmspilot]

The Zodiac CH601s had some early problems with in-flight break ups. There was speculation, but no hard evidence, that people were doing aerobatics in at least some of them. They did a strengthening program to put some extra support in the wings and airframe, and the problem stopped.

Hopefully they figure this out quickly.

 

[Fixtur]

Based on some of the takeoffs I witnessed, and the flightaware track, I would not be at all surprised if the wing fell off due to some sporty maneuvers.

 

[NovemberEcho]

In the summer? Like 4 times a day. This time a year maybe a couple times a week. I thought you were in New Jersey?

I’m from NJ originally but live on LI. N90 is in Westbury, I ain’t making that commute!

 

[NovemberEcho]

Based on some of the takeoffs I witnessed, and the flightaware track, I would not be at all surprised if the wing fell off due to some sporty maneuvers.

Which track? The accident one looks like a standard beach flight to me

 

[inigo88]

While pilots doing unauthorized aerobatics is one possibility, there are a variety of other things that can bite you in the experimental amateur built, LSA, sailplane and ultralight worlds. Structural interfaces are often temporary instead of permanent to facilitate folding or removable wings or empennages. In the E-AB world aircraft designs are also often developed following FAR Part 23 requirements, but they are never actually FAA certified and therefore haven’t necessarily been through the same scrutiny they may have received in the certification process. Many may be safe-ish / safe enough but will never be certified. Ultralights are just the totally unregulated Wild West. I don’t know enough about LSAs but they’re somewhere in that realm of totally legit to super sketchy.

The katheryn’s report comments have a discussion about the fact that the Seamax has a folding wing, and that the wing attach looks kinda janky, and I’d tend to agree. I can’t quite tell if the forward spar wing fold mechanism is meant to take load, and a 2 spar wing normally has 2 attach pins and this wing only had one (at the far aft edge, where normally you’d expect to see one and the forward spar carrythrough which is where most of the bending is reacted and a smaller one at the back to take out wing torsion).

Here’s a photo:

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b0cfde_b50df6d664db4b24b29e6ca6d9ad7d5d~mv2_d_4032_3024_s_4_2.jpeg/v1/crop/x_0,y_0,w_4032,h_2492/IMG_1553.jpeg

There’s also a photo of the accident aircraft’s wing completely intact in a tree, but hard to see the attach points in the photo.

So the root cause could be anything from unauthorized aerobatics, to forgetting a cotter pin on a properly designed folding wing, to a sketchy improperly designed folding wing and everything in between. And therefore I’ll try not to prematurely judge the poor guy, RIP.

 

[derg]

In the summer? Like 4 times a day. This time a year maybe a couple times a week. I thought you were in New Jersey?

Nah he just sounds like it. Really really sounds like it! Ha!

 

[ahw01]

Nah he just sounds like it. Really really sounds like it! Ha!

But does he pump his own gas?

 

[derg]

But does he pump his own gas?

OOoooooo, I don’t know!

 

[NovemberEcho]

But does he pump his own gas?

I do! But I also have a bad habit of stopping at gas stations in NJ to buy beer before I remember they don’t sell it

 

[derg]

Because of ”deity“ or is there a super awesome reason why not?

 

[N826AW]

Because of ”deity“ or is there a super awesome reason why not?

There's a limit to the number of retail sales licenses a company can have in NJ. I want to say it's 2 or 3. That's why you can't buy beer or wine in grocery stores either since most grocery stores have more locations than that.

 

[derg]

There's a limit to the number of retail sales licenses a company can have in NJ. I want to say it's 2 or 3. That's why you can't buy beer or wine in grocery stores either since most grocery stores have more locations than that.

Ahh!

That’s why I love Arizona. Ground beef, a block of cheese, a couple scallions and some Titos!

 

[CFI A&P]

The Seamax has a folding wing design.

A few years ago at the Sebring LSA Expo an Aero Adventure LSA had an unsecured folding wing fold inflight resulting in two fatalities. It does beg the question as to whether or not the wings are being properly secured in the flight position.