Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Georgetown Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Georgetown, South Carolina 29440
Thursday, September 19, 1996 18:00 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While climbing through about 2,500 feet after takeoff, the engine lost power. The pilot was forced to land on unsuitable terrain, which resulted in a collision with a tree. After the accident, the engine's left magneto was found jammed due to a failed impulse coupling. The jammed magneto broke the idler gear and the crankshaft gear with which it meshed, precipitating a total loss of power. The impulse coupling was the subject of an airworthiness directive that required recurring inspections at each 500 hours of engine operation. Records showed that the last inspection of the magneto was in November 1988, 432 hours after the engine had been overhauled. The last annual inspection was in October 1995, with a tachometer time of 2,905 hours since overhaul. At the time of the accident, the engine had a total flight time of 3,109 hours recorded since overhaul.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
failure of maintenance personnel to comply with an airworthiness directive, requiring periodic magneto inspections; inadequate annual inspection of the airplane by (other) maintenance personnel; and subsequent failure of the impulse coupling in the left magneto, which resulted in a jammed magneto, failure of the idler and crankshaft gears, and subsequent loss of engine power. The lack of suitable terrain for a forced landing was a related factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/19/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1800 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | GEORGETOWN |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29440 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | GEORGETOWN |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | GGE |
| 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 | 40 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2116 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 50 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MYR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 26 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 25 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| 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) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| 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 | 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 | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1155 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 19 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2030 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 10:21AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9VM |
| NTSB Number | ATL96LA128 |
| 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-32-300 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-32-300 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32-764009 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3200 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 6 1995 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 204 |
| Airframe Hours | 3109 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WARREN A. SHERRER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | POST OFFICE BOX 8311 |
| Aircraft Owner City | GEORGETOWN |
| Aircraft Owner State | SC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 29440 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | GGE |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1745 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SAV |
| Destination City | SAVANNAH |
| Destination State | GA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| 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 | -- |