Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fitiuta Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fitiuta American Samoa
Friday, April 23, 1999 6:45
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The captain overflew the field to assess winds conditions and the windsock indicated a quartering headwind for runway 12. During rollout the airplane veered immediately right when the power levers were brought into beta. The captain corrected with rudder and braking but was unable to maintain directional control. The aircraft ran off the right side of the runway and collided with a ditch and an embankment. After deplaning, the crew found that the winds were a 60-degree tailwind on runway 12. The windsock's pivot point on the pole was rusted and would not rotate. The aircraft with the same landing weight and a 60-degree 10-knot tailwind would require a 1,600-foot landing roll on the 2,350-foot runway without the assistance of both props in beta. The beta pin had backed out of position on the left engine's beta control linkage. The beta pin, cotter pin, and washer were found in the bottom of the engine cowling. The left engine had been changed 2 days prior to the accident. As the mechanics finished the beta pin area during engine installation, the inspector checked the area and found that the pin was in place and properly safety wired. Following the inspector's signoff of the area, the mechanics discovered that the teleflex cable was too short for the beta valve to be flushed and subsequently had to be adjusted. The director of maintenance readjusted the cable, which required disturbing the safety wire on the beta pin. One of the two mechanics that had been instructed to re-safety the connections after the adjustment thought that the rear portion had already been safetied and did not recheck the area. The inspector believed the area had already been checked and did not re-examine the beta pin.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the mechanical separation of the left engine beta control linkage during landing rollout, which resulted in asymmetrical decelerative action and the pilot's subsequent inability to maintain directional control. The separation of the linkage was due to the airline's inadequate inspection and quality assurance procedures. An inoperative windsock pivot point, which resulted in faulty wind direction information to the flight crew was a factor in this accident.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/23/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 645 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | FITIUTA |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | AMERICAN SAMOA |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96799 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | FITIUTA AIRPORT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FAQ |
| 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 | 110 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 558 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FAQ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 110 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 12 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 25 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| 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 | 14 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1539 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 23 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1359 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 31 2003 12:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\ZUZL |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N719AS |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA163 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR/IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | de Havilland |
| Aircraft Model | DHC-6-200 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | DHC-6-200 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 139 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 11579 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 18 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 16 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 31 |
| Airframe Hours | 33559 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SAMOA AVIATION, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 280 |
| Aircraft Owner City | PAGO PAGO |
| Aircraft Owner State | AS |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 96799 |
| 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 | SMPA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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 | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PPG |
| Departure City | PAGO PAGO |
| Departure State | AS |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 609 |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | FAQ |
| Destination City | FITIUTA, TA'U |
| Destination State | AS |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 20 2002 12:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 12 |
| Runway Length | 2350 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |