Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Prescott Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Prescott, Arizona 86301
Friday, February 26, 1999 11:57 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane sustained a hard landing after the propeller went into an uncommanded reverse pitch range on final approach. This was the first flight with this engine installed. After several successful normal approaches and landings flown at 70 knots, the pilot decided to make a more aggressive STOL (short takeoff and landing) approach. This would require him to fly about 60 knots and required more precise power control. Shortly after turning from the base leg to final, the propeller went uncommanded into the beta (reverse pitch) range. At an altitude of 150 feet he didn't think he could lower the nose and attain the 70-knot airspeed he needed to flare normally. He elected to maintain his three-point attitude and tried to slightly increase power to get the propeller to come out of beta. Normally, beta is obtained by depressing a thumb lever that lifts a pin, allowing the control lever to be moved into the beta range. He detected no response so he continued to slowly advance the power. The airplane touched down at approximately 1,000-feet-per-minute rate of descent. The Federal Aviation Administration accident coordinator examined the airplane, engine, and documentation. The proper technical manuals were available and the installation appeared to comply with the manuals. He did not observe any mechanical damage to the controls or linkages that controlled the propeller. All linkages and jam nuts were secured and the linkages appeared to be properly adjusted.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The malfunction of the propeller for undetermined reasons at an altitude too low for the pilot to take effective remedial action.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/26/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1157 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | PRESCOTT |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 86301 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | PRESCOTT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PRC |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 5045 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1853 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PRC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5045 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1892 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 26 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1120 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 19 2001 4:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N666X |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA110 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Helio |
| Aircraft Model | JERGINS H 800 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | JERGINS H |
| Aircraft Serial Number | H 22 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 27 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 7 |
| Airframe Hours | 14 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | HELIO ENTERPRISES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | PRESCOTT |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 86301 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | PRC |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1110 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 19 2001 4:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 21R |
| Runway Length | 4846 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |