Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Independence, New York 14897
Wednesday, July 19, 1995 10:50 EDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The new owner/co-pilot of the 50-year-old airplane and another pilot, who was typed rated in the airplane, departed on a 1,700 mile ferry flight. After the first 250 mile leg, the airplane was landed at another airport with a right engine problem. The owner replaced the right engine and continued the ferry flight. Twenty minutes into the second flight, the replacement right engine lost power. The owner stated that they applied maximum power to the left engine, were unable to feather the right propeller, and performed a forced landing to a field. However, the airplane collided with trees before reaching the field, then burned after impact. Investigation revealed that during the past 5 years, the airplane had neither flown nor had an annual inspection, except for 3 recent maintenance flights, totaling 1.5 Hours. The right propeller blades had chordwise scratches. The left propeller blades had no chordwise scratches. Examination of the wreckage revealed three propeller strikes in the ground, near the right engine ground scar, and no propeller strikes in the ground, near the left engine ground scar. The right engine mixture was locked in the auto-cruise position, while the left was locked in the emergency position. Airplane charts listed the single-engine rate of climb with a feathered propeller to be 350 feet per minute, and 10 feet per minute with a windmilling propeller.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The loss of engine power for undetermined reasons, and the pilot's shutdown of the wrong engine, which resulted in a forced landing and collision with trees.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 7/19/1995
Event Day of the Week Wednesday
Time of Event 1050
Event Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Event City INDEPENDENCE
Event State NEW YORK
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 14897
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
Event Location Nearest Airport ID
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport Off Airport/Airstrip
Distance from airport in statute miles --
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation --
Weather Briefing Completeness Unknown
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1000 Eastern Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 90
Weather Observation Facility ID ELM
Elevation of weather observation facility 955
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 39
Time Zone of the weather observation EDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 3300
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 0
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Unknown
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Broken
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) 0
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) 0
Visibility (Statute Miles) 20
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 23
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 14
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 300
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 8
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) 0
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29
Density Altitude (feet) 2000
Intensity of Precipitation Unknown
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury Fatal
On Ground, Fatal Injuries 0
On Ground, Minor Injuries 0
On Ground, Serious Injuries 0
Injury Total Fatal 1
Injury Total Minor --
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious 1
Injury Total All 2
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 1545
NTSB Notification Source --
NTSB Notification Date Jul 19 1995 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1150
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 N54NA
NTSB Number NYC95FA167
Missing Aircraft Indicator N
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed VFR
Flight plan Was Activated? --
Damage Destroyed
Aircraft Fire Ground
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name DOUGLAS
Aircraft Model DC-3
Aircraft Series Identifier DC-3
Aircraft Serial Number 19475
Certified Max Gross Weight 26000
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 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Dec 1 1989 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours 16700
ELT Installed No
ELT Activated Unknown
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name NEIL F. STALDER
Aircraft Owner Street Address 201 N. WALNUT ST. SUITE 1414
Aircraft Owner City WILIMINGTON
Aircraft Owner State DE
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 19801
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) Ferry
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code ELM
Departure City ELMIRA
Departure State NY
Departure Country
Departure Time 1020
Departure Time Zone EDT
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code MKC
Destination City KANSAS CITY
Destination State MO
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight Emergency 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 0
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --