Pilot Fatally Injured, Plane Severely Damaged

The only flying example of the Northrop N9M went down Monday in a prison yard of the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, CA, according to the FAA.

The aircraft belonged to the Planes of Fame Museum in Chico, CA. The museum confirmed in a statement that one of its pilots was flying the N9M when it went down. The pilot was the only person on board the aircraft.

The Press-Enterprise newspaper reports that the FAA said in a statement that "A Northrop N9M aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances in the prison yard of the California Rehabilitation Center.”

Northrop built four one-third scale test models of a flying wing airplane as the U.S. was working to develop a long-range bomber during the cold war. The concept was adopted for the Northrop B-2 Spirit bomber that was developed in the late 1980s.

The accident airplane had been restored by the Planes of Fame museum and was preparing for an air show when the accident occurred. It had reportedly been flown safely for "several hundred hours" since being returned to airworthy condition in 1994, according to FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer.

No one on the ground was injured beyond a few scratches reportedly sustained by an inmate at the prison where the plane went down, according to the California Department of Corrections.

(Image from YouTube video posted by user Tom Dozier)

FMI: Source report