Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Creswell, Oregon 97426
Sunday, January 19, 1997 12:40 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The 7-GCBC Champion was observed engaged in repeated spin maneuvers. A witness reported observing that 'the plane was heading straight down spinning clockwise again' and 'was close to the elevation where it pulled out the first time. (That's) when I saw a piece of the plane come off.' This was the pilot's fifth flight since checking out in the aircraft (3.4 hours total flight time). According to witnesses, spins were conducted on all five flights. Postcrash examination revealed that the outboard right wing tip cap and some attached wing fabric had separated from the aircraft during flight. The examination also revealed that the forward and aft right wing spar structure were at the ground impact site of the fuselage. The right wing forward spar displayed upwards bending deformation and splintering just outboard of the forward wing strut attach point. NTSB records indicated the aircraft had been involved in an accident on 6/13/77 in Alaska; however, no aircraft records could be located to ascertain the extent of the damage, if any, to the right wing. An examination of the right wing spar structure revealed that it was within dimensional tolerances set by the manufacturer.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot exceeded the design stress limits of the aircraft, while recovering from a spin, which resulted in failure and separation of the right wing tip and adjacent wing fabric (skin).
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/19/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1240 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | CRESWELL |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97426 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| 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 | 1256 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 296 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EUG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 365 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| 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) | 110 |
| 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 | Light |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1243 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 19 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1423 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9677S |
| NTSB Number | SEA97FA049 |
| 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 | Champion |
| Aircraft Model | 7-GCBC |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 7-GCBC |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28 |
| 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 | Oct 17 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 50 |
| Airframe Hours | 2039 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JERRY D. MARSHALL |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 7883 AIRPORT ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | COTTAGE GROVE |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97424 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | COTTAGE GROVE AVIATION |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 78833 AIRPORT ROAD |
| Operator City | COTTAGE GROVE |
| Operator State | OR |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 97424 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 61S |
| Departure City | COTTAGE GROVE |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1200 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| 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 | Maneuvering |
| 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 | -- |