Aircraft structural failure: Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly, UNREG, fatal accident occurred on April 19, 2024, at Sheets Airport (FA42), Groveland, Florida

• Location: Groveland, Florida
• Accident Number: ERA24LA185
• Date & Time: April 19, 2024, 13:30 Local
• Registration: UNREG Aircraft: Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly
• Aircraft Damage: Substantial
• Defining Event: Aircraft structural failure
• Injuries: 1 Fatal
• Flight Conducted Under: Part 91: General aviation - Personal

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https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=194119

On April 19, 2024, about 1330 eastern daylight time, an unregistered Bailey-Moyes Dragonfly airplane was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident at Sheets Airport (FA42), Groveland, Florida. The private pilot was fatally injured. The flight was operated under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. 

According to witnesses, the airplane departed and climbed to an altitude about 200 to 300 ft above ground level and then turned before the right wing “folded upward” and the airplane descended in a spiral to the ground. Postaccident examination revealed that the right lower wing strut attachment was not properly assembled; the bolt intended to connect the wing strut block to the fuselage bulkhead was threaded through the fuselage structure and tightened, but had not passed through the hole in the strut block, resulting in no load-bearing connection between the wing strut and the fuselage. The absence of deformation or damage to the bolt and wing strut block at the attachment point was consistent with the improper installation of the bolt. 

Without the structural support of the right lower wing strut, the wing was unable to sustain the aerodynamic loads encountered during the initial climb, resulting in an in-flight structural failure of the right wing. The accident flight was the airplane’s first flight since it was assembled by the pilot. The airplane was unregistered and had not been issued an airworthiness certificate or operating limitations, nor had it been inspected by a designated airworthiness representative or an FAA inspector before the flight. 

- Probable Cause: The pilot’s improper installation and inspection of the right lower wing strut attachment bolt, which resulted in the inflight failure of the right wing.