Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
False River Air Park Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
New Roads, Louisiana 70760
Tuesady, February 1, 1994 21:40 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
WHILE DESCENDING FOR LANDING AT BATON ROUGE, THE CAPTAIN ACTIVELY MOVED THE POWER LEVERS FROM THE FLIGHT IDLE GATE INTO THE BETA RANGE FOR UNDETERMINED REASONS. THE PROPELLERS AND ENGINES EXPERIENCED EXTREME OVERSPEED, NECESSITATING A POWER-OFF EMERGENCY LANDING AT NIGHT AND THE AIRPLANE RAN OFF THE END OF A 5,000-FT RUNWAY. ALTHOUGH THE DESIGN AND CERTIFICATION OF THE POWER LEVERS MET EXISTING REQUIREMENTS, THOSE REQUIREMENTS WERE INADEQUATE BECAUSE THEY PERMITTED A DESIGN THAT DID NOT PREVENT MOVEMENT INTO THE BETA RANGE IN FLIGHT. THE AIRFRAME & ENGINE INDUSTRY, THE FAA, AND THE CERTIFICATION AUTHORITIES FROM OTHER COUNTRIES WERE SLOW IN REACTING TO SEVERAL PREVIOUS IN-FLIGHT BETA OCCURRENCES THAT LED TO SERIOUS INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
THE CAPTAIN'S MOVEMENT OF THE POWER LEVERS BELOW FLIGHT IDLE IN FLIGHT, THE INADEQUATE CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS AND CONSEQUENT DESIGN OF THE AIRPLANE'S POWER LEVERS THAT PERMITTED THEM TO BE MOVED BELOW THE FLIGHT IDLE POSITION INTO THE BETA RANGE, EITHER INTENTIONALLY OR INADVERTENTLY, WHILE IN FLIGHT, AND THE INADEQUATE ACTION TAKEN TO REQUIRE A POSITIVE MEANS TO PREVENT BETA OPERATION ON AIRPLANES FOR WHICH SUCH OPERATION IS PROHIBITED. (NTSB REPORT AAR=94/06)
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/1/1994 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 2140 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | NEW ROADS |
| Event State | LOUISIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 70760 |
| Event Date Year | 1994 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | FALSE RIVER AIR PARK |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LA30 |
| 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 | 39 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 12000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 7500 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 3 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| 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) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 25 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 928 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 1 1994 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2315 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2000 10:40AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N349SB |
| NTSB Number | DCA94MA033 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Saab-Scania AB (Saab) |
| Aircraft Model | 340B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 340B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 340B-349 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 30000 |
| 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 | 30 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 9 1994 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 129 |
| Airframe Hours | 528 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SIMMONS AIRLINES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1700 WEST 20TH STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | DFW AIRPORT |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75261 |
| 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 | 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 | DFW |
| Departure City | DALLAS/FT.WORTH |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | BTR |
| Destination City | BATON ROUGE |
| Destination State | LA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| 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 | 18 |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |