US EditionInvestigators focus on modified part in crash of airshow pilot at Langley Air Force Base
- Champion aerobatic pilot Rob Holland died in a crash while attempting to land his MXS plane at Langley Air Force Base on April 24, 2025.
- Investigators focused on a missing threaded aluminum plug from the elevator control, a special modification to Holland's airplane, as reported in an NTSB preliminary report released eight days after the crash.
- Witnesses observed the plane porpoising twice, pitching straight up, rolling 90 degrees left, and descending to ground impact, with the missing plug found 10 feet from the main wreckage showing dents and scrapes consistent with contact to the horizontal tail.
- The NTSB stated the plane made a normal approach, leveled at about 50 feet above the runway, but did not assign a probable cause or confirm how the missing plug affected control; the final report is expected in 2026 or early 2027.
- Holland, a 50-year-old 13-time U.S. National Aerobatic Champion, was highly respected worldwide, and his death shocked the aviation community and inspired widespread memorials.
15 Articles
15 Articles
The Virginian Pilot
Daily PressFamed pilot’s plane ‘porpoised,’ rolled before fatal crash at Langley Air Force Base
HAMPTON — Famed aerobatic pilot Rob Holland’s plane appeared to be making a normal approach to Langley Air Force Base last week until it reached the end of the runway, according to a preliminary report issued Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board. As Holland’s custom built, single-seat MX Aircraft MXS approached, it leveled off about 50 feet above the runway, then flew straight down the runway for several hundred feet, the report sa…
Preliminary report into fatal Hampton plane crash focuses on missing plug
HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Investigators looking into last week's fatal plane crash at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton are focusing on a plug on a wing that may have come loose either on approach or during the crash. Aerobatic pilot dies in crash at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report into the April 24 crash, which killed the plane's pilot, Rob Holland, 50, of Rob Holland Ae…
Investigators focus on modified part in crash of airshow pilot at Langley Air Force Base
By Pete Muntean, CNN (CNN) — Investigators probing last week’s crash that killed champion aerobatic pilot Rob Holland as he attempted to land at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia are focused on a part of a special modification to his airplane’s controls. The new findings published by the National Transportation Safety Board on Friday said one of two small threaded aluminum plugs in the elevator control of Holland’s MXS aerobatic plane was “not …
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