St George Island Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Apalachicola, Florida 32320
Sunday, June 30, 1996 10:45 EDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The pilot stated that she entered the traffic pattern to land on runway 14 with a crosswind from the left of about 10 knots. While on short final approach with partial flaps extended and an indicated airspeed of 90 miles-per-hour, the flight encountered a downdraft. She added only partial power and the airplane landed short of the runway separating the nose landing gear. She further stated that the engine responded when she added power and she only applied a slight pitch up correction when adding power. Examination of the airplane revealed that the 4 AN3-14A bolts that secure the nose gear trunnion attach plate to the nose gear support rib were bent and the threads were stripped. The original prototype engine/propeller combination was approximately 100 pounds lighter than the installed engine/propeller combination but with the same size and number of bolts used to secure the nose gear trunnion attach plate.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

Inadequate application of throttle input and up elevator input by the pilot-in-command. Contributing to the accident was the in-flight encounter with a downdraft and inadequate design of the airplane by the kit manufacturer.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 6/30/1996
Event Day of the Week Sunday
Time of Event 1045
Event Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Event City APALACHICOLA
Event State FLORIDA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 32320
Event Date Year 1996
Event Date Month 6
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude
Event Location Longitude
Event Location Airport ST GEORGE ISLAND
Event Location Nearest Airport ID F47
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 3
Weather Briefing Completeness Unknown
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 955 Central Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 307
Weather Observation Facility ID PAM
Elevation of weather observation facility 18
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 42
Time Zone of the weather observation CDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 0
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 25000
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) 7
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 29
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 21
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 70
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) 30
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 2
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 1199
NTSB Notification Source --
NTSB Notification Date Jun 30 1996 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1356
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Dec 8 2000 10:05AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N16CD
NTSB Number MIA96LA172
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 Charles Raymond
Aircraft Model GLASAIR 2SFT
Aircraft Series Identifier GLASAIR 2S
Aircraft Serial Number 2043
Certified Max Gross Weight 2100
Aircraft Category Airplane
Aircraft Registration Class U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil
Aircraft is a homebuilt? Yes
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 Sep 25 1995 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 41
Airframe Hours 426
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated Unknown
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name CHARLES P. RAYMOND
Aircraft Owner Street Address 450 KINGSPOINT LANE
Aircraft Owner City ROZWELL
Aircraft Owner State GA
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 30076
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) Personal
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code VPC
Departure City CARTERSVILLE
Departure State GA
Departure Country
Departure Time 915
Departure Time Zone EDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code F47
Destination City
Destination State
Destination Country
Specific Phase of Flight --
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 14
Runway Length 3700
Runway Width 65
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --