SCALED COMPOSITES 339
Koehn Dry Lake, CA — October 31, 2014
Event Information
| Date | October 31, 2014 |
| Event Type | ACC |
| NTSB Number | DCA15MA019 |
| Event ID | 20141031X74653 |
| Location | Koehn Dry Lake, CA |
| Country | USA |
| Coordinates | 35.32639, -117.94473 |
| Highest Injury | FATL |
Aircraft
| Make | SCALED COMPOSITES |
| Model | 339 |
| Category | RCKT |
| FAR Part | 437 |
| Aircraft Damage | DEST |
Conditions
| Light Condition | DAYL |
| Weather | VMC |
Injuries
| Fatal | 1 |
| Serious | 1 |
| Minor | 0 |
| None | 0 |
| Total Injured | 2 |
Event Location
Probable Cause
Scaled Composites' failure to consider and protect against the possibility that a single human error could result in a catastrophic hazard to the SpaceShipTwo vehicle. This failure set the stage for the copilot's premature unlocking of the feather system as a result of time pressure and vibration and loads that he had not recently experienced, which led to uncommanded feather extension and the subsequent aerodynamic overload and in-flight breakup of the vehicle.
Full Narrative
NTSB investigators traveled in support of this investigation and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aerospace accident report.
The Safety Board's full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/AccidentReports.aspx. The Aerospace Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-15/02.
On October 31, 2014, at 1007:32 Pacific daylight time, the SpaceShipTwo (SS2) reusable suborbital rocket, N339SS, operated by Scaled Composites LLC (Scaled), broke up into multiple pieces during a rocket-powered test flight and impacted terrain over a 5-mile area near Koehn Dry Lake, California. The pilot received serious injuries, and the copilot received fatal injuries. SS2 was destroyed, and no one on the ground was injured as a result of the falling debris. SS2 had been released from its launch vehicle, WhiteKnightTwo (WK2), N348MS, about 13 seconds before the structural breakup. Scaled was operating SS2 under an experimental permit issued by the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) according to the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 437.
About This NTSB Record
This aviation event was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). NTSB investigates all U.S. civil aviation accidents to determine probable cause and issue safety recommendations to prevent future accidents.