Two employees of aircraft kit maker Sonex – including chief executive Jeremy Monnett – died in a 2 June accident while flying a company-owned Sport Acro in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Monnett is the son of Sonex founder John Monnett and chief financial officer Betty Monnett. He was inside the acrobatic, single-engined two-seater alongside Sonex mechanic Mike Clark when the crash occurred on the east end of Wittman Regional Airport’s runway 9 around 3:30pm, according to a company statement.
“There are no immediate conclusions that can be drawn” about the cause of the crash, the Sonex statement says, adding that the accident is being investigated by the US Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board and the company itself.
John Monnett, Sonex president, told the company’s staff that operations will continue “despite the holes left by Jeremy and Mike’s absence”, Sonex says.
The Sport Acro resembles the company’s standard two-place aircraft except that it has a larger aileron so the acrobatic aircraft can perform competition-level roll rates.
The aircraft involved in the crash – registered as N123SX – first flew in 2007 and last year was re-engined with a 100hp AeroVee Turbo. The engine had accumulated 25h in a Sonex test cell and 50 flight hours on N123SX since spring 2014. Sonex had flown the aircraft earlier this year to Florida for the Sun ’n Fun fly-in and a convention in Sebring.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
