Pilot Departs Aircraft, Damages Tail In Fatal Crash

A pilot who may have been trying to do an in-flight visual inspection of his Bearhawk Patrol's control surfaces was killed in the process and also doomed the safety pilot he had with him. The NTSB's final report into the crash of the homebuilt on Oct. 29, 2022, in Hanover Township, Pennsylvania, attributes the accident to "the pilot's decision to unlatch his seatbelt during flight, which allowed him to exit the airplane and impact the tail, resulting in a loss of control and impact with terrain." The report says when the pilot hit the tail, the aircraft became uncontrollable and the pilot-rated passenger didn't have a chance.

The pilot was seen securing his seatbelt before the flight and he'd told a friend that he thought he had a rigging issue that caused the plane to yaw during turns. The NTSB said it's possible the pilot was "attempting to observe the problem with the tail" and either fell out of the plane or bumped the controls, causing the plane to abruptly pitch up and eject him from the plane. "Although the reason for the pilot's exit from the airplane during flight could not be determined, his impact with the tail section of the airplane during flight resulted in substantial damage to the tail section and a subsequent loss of control during flight from which the pilot-rated passenger would not have been able to recover."