Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Long Beach Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Long Beach, California 90804
Tuesady, July 4, 1995 15:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE TOW SYSTEM ON THE AIRCRAFT CONSISTS OF A SHORT CABLE ATTACHED TO THE TAIL OF THE AIRCRAFT WITH A HOOK ON THE END. THE HOOK IS THEN USED TO SNAG THE BANNER CABLE DURING A PICKUP MANEUVER. PRIOR TO TAKEOFF, THE CABLE IS ROUTED OUTBOARD OF THE RUDDER CONTROL CABLES WHICH ARE ATTACHED TO THE HORN AND SPRINGS OF THE TAIL WHEEL STEERING MECHANISM. THE PILOT THEN HOLDS THE HOOK UNDER TENSION WITH HIS LEFT HAND DURING THE TAKEOFF AND DROPS THE HOOK ONCE AIRBORNE. THE PILOT REPORTED THAT HE LIFTED OFF NORMALLY, DROPPED THE HOOK CABLE, AND THEN HOOKED THE BANNER CABLE NEAR THE END OF RUNWAY 25R. IMMEDIATELY, THE RUDDER WENT TO A FULL RIGHT DEFLECTION AND THE PILOT COULD NOT CORRECT THE RUDDER WITH A PEDAL APPLICATION. THE PILOT MADE TWO RIGHT TURNS NEAR THE AIRPORT BOUNDARY IN AN ATTEMPT TO RETURN TO THE AIRPORT AND SNAGGED THE BANNER ON A FENCE. THE TORN BANNER THEN BECAME UNSTABLE AND SNAGGED ON TREES AT AN ADJACENT GOLF COURSE AND THE AIRCRAFT CRASHED ON THE THIRD FAIRWAY. FRESH CABLE SIGNATURES WERE PRESENT COMPLETELY AROUND THE RUDDER CONTROL HORN AT THE RUDDER CABLE ATTACH POINT.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the inadvertent entanglement of the banner tow cable with the rudder control system, which resulted in a full and uncorrectable deflection of the rudder, and the pilot's inability to control the aircraft.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/4/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1500 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | LONG BEACH |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90804 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | LONG BEACH MUNI |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | LGB |
| 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 | 57 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1450 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LGB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 57 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1110 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 4 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:25PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8634 |
| NTSB Number | LAX95LA240 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BELLANCA |
| Aircraft Model | 7GCBC |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 7GCBC |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 460-73 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1650 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 21 1994 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DRIFTER CORPORATION |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 3645 |
| Aircraft Owner City | CAREFREE |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85377 |
| 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) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LGB |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| 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 | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 25R |
| Runway Length | 6192 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |