Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Vero Beach Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Vero Beach, Florida 32961
Wednesday, April 14, 1999 11:39 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While maneuvering the airplane at 4,000 feet above ground level, the flightcrew heard a loud noise from the left engine and saw that the left engine had dropped down about 45 degrees from the normal position. They returned to the departure airport for an emergency landing. When the landing gear was extended the left engine dropped down further. They were unable to maintain directional control due to the drag and made a forced landing in a wooded area. Post crash examination showed the left propeller hub had failed due to fatigue cracking causing a blade to separate. The remainder of the propeller separated when the propeller flange separated due to overstress and the engine dropped down when the engine mount separated due to overstress. The left propeller had sustained damage in a gear up landing 525 flight hours before the accident. The blades were bent beyond repairable limits and scrapped. The hub was inspected and returned to service with new blades. The manufacturer's procedures call for a hub to be retired if the blades receive damage beyond repairable limits and are scrapped.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The improper return to service of a propeller hub by a propeller overhaul company which according to manufacturer's procedures should have been retired due to damage to propeller blades from sudden stoppage. This resulted in undetected fatigue propagation through the hub and separation of a propeller blade in flight. This resulted in overstress separation of the propeller flange and the remainder of the propeller and overstress separation of the engine mount causing the engine to drop down making the aircraft uncontrollable.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/14/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1139 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | VERO BEACH |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32961 |
| 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 | VERO BEACH |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | VRB |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 40 |
| Airport Elevation | 25 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1150 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 220 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | VRB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 25 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| 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) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 100 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1400 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 276 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 14 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1255 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 12 2000 11:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N30397 |
| NTSB Number | MIA99LA128 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-44-180 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-44-180 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 44-7995074 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3800 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 29 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 36 |
| Airframe Hours | 11398 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FLIGHT SAFETY INTL., INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2805 AIRPORT DRIVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | VERO BEACH |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 32961 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | VRB |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1000 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| 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 | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 22 |
| Runway Length | 4975 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |