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Arkansas crash involved sport plane flagged by NTSB
By The Associated Press
This article was published November 13, 2009 at 3:57 p.m.
The National Transportation Safety Board says a plane that crashed in rural northern Arkansas, killing the pilot, was an experimental aircraft that the agency has recommended grounding.
The Zodiac CH-601XL that crashed Nov. 6 in Fulton County killed 71-year-old Charles Cummings of North Aurora, Ill. The NTSB says the amateur-built plane broke apart in flight, scattering debris in an area more than 600 feet long. Both wings had separated from the fuselage in flight.
In April, the board said the plane is susceptible to “aerodynamic flutter,” a phenomenon in which the surfaces of the plane can suddenly vibrate, and if unmitigated, break the plane apart.
The NTSB says the plane’s designer, Zenith Aircraft Company, has asked the planes’ owners to make structural modifications recommended by the Federal Aviation Administration before flying again.
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