SEA08LA149 · Van Heeswyk Lightning
Van Heeswyk Lightning · Accident: part(s) separation from aircraft while maneuvering
From Ryan Field (KRYN) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA08LA149
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 1 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Van Heeswyk Lightning
- Aircraft type
- Van Heeswyk LIGHTNING
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N62JV
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Ryan Field (KRYN), Tucson, AZTo not recorded
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Maneuvering
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Part(s) separation from aircraft
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft propeller/rotor
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
While maneuvering adjacent to a private airstrip at a low altitude, witnesses reported observing the propeller assembly separate from the airplane. The pilot maneuvered towards the airstrip and leveled out on runway heading about mid-length of the runway. As the airplane crossed over the end of the runway, it banked to the left and descended into terrain, impacting an open desert field adjacent to several residential homes. Examination of the airplane revealed that the airframe and both wings were structurally damaged. The propeller assembly, including the propeller flange extension were found separated from the engine crankshaft. No further anomalies were noted with the airframe and engine that would have precluded normal operation. The attachment bolts were installed on a painted surface of the propeller flange extension. The paint surrounding this area was flaking away from the surface. Evidence of thread locking material was observed in the threaded areas consistent with installation instructions. Examination of the attachment bolts revealed that four of the six bolts exhibited fracture surfaces consistent with fatigue. One of the four bolts exhibited a multifaceted fracture surface with multiple origins around the circumference. Hardness of this bolt was checked and found to be within the specified hardness range.
Probable cause
The insufficient clamping force resulting in a fatigue fracture of the propeller extension attachment bolts and subsequent separation of the propeller assembly in flight. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's failure to maintain sufficient airspeed to avoid an inadvertent stall while maneuvering during the emergency approach to the airport.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA08LA149
- Event ID
- 20080604X00790
- Case number
- SEA08LA149
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, coordinates. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 92d3b5ece5b90754b70878a46c36a9f55a09ead454b5700e2eced1f615eda6d1; retrieved 2026-09-13T19:05:59.103Z.