The NTSB prelim on an April 19th Extra 300 (illustrated below) fatal accident has shed little light on potential causes for the 45 degree descent and impact into 225 foot deep waters near Santa Barbara, CA. The one person aboard, Stephen Birch, had reportedly been flying for thirty years.

NTSB Identification: WPR09LA203
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, April 19, 2009 in Santa Barbara, CA
Aircraft: EXTRA EA-300, registration: N101PK
Injuries: 1 Fatal.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On April 19, 2009, at 1728 hours Pacific daylight time, an Extra Flugzeugbau GMBH EA-300, N101PK, crashed about 3 miles offshore of the El Capitan State Beach, Santa Barbara, California. Otter Enterprises owned and operated the airplane under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91, as a personal flight. The private pilot, the sole occupant, was killed. The airplane was destroyed. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local area flight that had departed the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport (SBA), Santa Barbara, at 1718. No flight plan had been filed.

According to a witness, he had gone outside and saw the airplane performing aerobatics over the water. He sat down and watched for about 10 minutes, and observed the airplane do a maneuver four times, which he described as "flying straight up, flipping over, coming back down, and then flying straight up again." He then saw the airplane enter into a 45-degree descent toward the water and expected the airplane to pull up again into the same maneuver; however, the airplane impacted the water. From his residence, the airplane looked to be only about an inch in size, and he was not able to see a lot of detail. He also reported that it did not appear to be flying close to the water, but rather high up. The witness has viewed helicopters flying to the oil platforms, and estimated that the airplane was "four times higher than the helicopters," which flew closer to the water.

The airplane was located and recovered in the El Capitan channel from a depth of about 225 feet and will be examined.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov