Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cle Elum, Washington 98922
Tuesady, October 8, 1996 3:26 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot went to a doctor 6 hours before reporting to fly, and was diagnosed with gastritis, reflux symptoms, and fatigue. Just before taking off on the accident flight, the pilot complained to a fellow company pilot that he felt ill, expressing fear of repercussions from his company if he grounded himself. A few minutes before disappearing from contact with air traffic control, he radioed the fellow pilot (who was in another company aircraft on the same route): 'I don't feel so good...I feel like I'm going to toss my cookies.' The aircraft wreckage was located about 11 hours after the disappearance, with the pilot fatally injured inside. Wreckage distribution at the accident site was indicative of inflight separation of the right wing and horizontal stabilator. Subsequent examination indicated that the wing and stabilator separations were a result of overstress. No evidence of mechanical problems was noted, other than the separated wing and stabilator. In constructing a history of the pilot's activities before the accident, investigators found that his activities for the two days before the accident (during a rest period) were on a schedule inconsistent with his night air cargo duties.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's physical impairment of judgment and performance, his decision to fly while impaired, and his subsequent failure to maintain control of the aircraft which led to the aircraft's design stress limits being exceeded and inflight separation of the horizontal stabiliator and right wing. Contributing to the accident were: pilot fatigue and self-induced pressure to fly.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/8/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 326 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | CLE ELUM |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98922 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| 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 | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 256 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 140 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | YKM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1095 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 38 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| 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) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| 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 | 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 | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1908 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 8 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1430 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 10:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Unknown |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N666HL |
| NTSB Number | SEA97FA006 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-34-200T |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-34-200T |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 34-7770235 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4570 |
| 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 | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 18 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 61 |
| Airframe Hours | 12301 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AIRPAC AIRLINES INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 7277 PERIMETER RD. S. |
| Aircraft Owner City | SEATTLE |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98108 |
| 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 | APCA |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | GEG |
| Departure City | SPOKANE |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 215 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | BFI |
| Destination City | SEATTLE |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| 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 | -- |