NTSB Factual Report

On March 28, 2018, about 0830 eastern daylight time, an experimental Stanley Lancair IV-P, Canadian registration C-GSQQ, was substantially damaged during an encounter with jet blast while taxiing after landing at Sebring Regional Airport (SEF), Sebring, Florida. There were no injuries to the private pilot or two passengers. The airplane which was operating under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight that originated about 30 minutes earlier from Buckingham Field Airport, Fort Myers, Florida.

The pilot stated that he landed uneventfully on runway 01 after executing a GPS approach, then rolled to the end, where he turned left onto taxiway A4 and stopped. He cleaned up the airplane from landing, performed the taxi checks, and noticed a Boeing 737 that was facing south on a taxiway that paralleled the runway; the airplane was south of his position. He thought the airplane was parked, and neither he or his brother who was in the right front seat recalled seeing any people on the ground around the 737. He noticed that the left engine cowling of the 737 was missing, but he could not perceive either engine was running.

He began taxiing westbound on the taxiway and when he was behind the 737 (about 200 to 300 ft), with no aileron control input applied, the left wing suddenly raised and the right wing contacted the taxiway. The airplane cartwheeled and came to rest upright on grass at the north edge of the taxiway with the nose landing gear fork and wheel assembly separated. He reported the empennage was cracked and that there was damage to both wings at each wing root, consistent with up and down flexing.