Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
St. Mary's, Georgia 31558
Sunday, February 2, 1997 11:40 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot intended to photograph his son's house. He descended to an altitude of 1000 feet AGL, circled the house, and upon seeing people come out of the house and seeing them wave he took a couple of pictures. The pilot stated that he slowed the airplane down to 'flap operating speed...[and] put in 10 degrees of flap.' He then increased power, trimmed the airplane for level flight and 'essentially hands off' control. He stated that he circled twice, took two pictures, and 'then decided to drop...a tennis ball I had previously made up for the purpose...I tossed out the tennis ball. I then reached down for the camera in my lap and looked through the view finder, but was unable to frame the picture...I placed the camera back on my lap, and heard a cough/stutter from the engine and experienced a power loss...I employed carb (sic) heat and advanced the throttle...I seem to recall a slight forward movement when the power loss occurred and then I seem to recall sliding back away from the dash. Then I seem to have lost control. I remember trying to the keep the wings level and I watched the trees coming at me...' Ground witnesses saw the airplane maneuvering at a low altitude, turning, and going nose low into the trees. In addition, the witnesses told investigators that they heard the sound of the engine until impact. Examination of the engine and the airframe did not reveal any discrepancies.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain airspeed which resulted in an inadvertent stall the at too low an altitude to allow recovery. A factor in this accident was the pilot's attention was diverted.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/2/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1140 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | ST. MARY'S |
| Event State | GEORGIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 31558 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| 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 | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Not Reported |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Unknown |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 89 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 2 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1202 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6005J |
| NTSB Number | MIA97LA081 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Aircraft Explosion | Unknown |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | A150L |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | A150L |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0305 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | Unknown |
| 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 | Aug 8 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 112 |
| Airframe Hours | 6425 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ATLANTIC FLYING CLUB INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | POB 773 |
| Aircraft Owner City | FERNANDINA BEAC |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 32035 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| 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 | Dec 31 2000 6:56PM |
| 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 | -- |