Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Avery County-Morrison Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Spruce Pine, North Carolina 28777
Saturday, July 5, 1997 9:48 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane departed runway 16, with a slight tailwind, and made a climbing left turn. About three minutes later, the airplane struck the trees on the side of a mountain, and began burning. The published procedure in the Airport Facility Directory (AFD) for departing this airport states right turning traffic patterns are recommended, due to the mountainous terrain. When queried about this fact, the pilot stated he was unable to find Avery County-Morrison Field in an AFD, and saw no signs indicating the direction of the traffic pattern. The pilot stated he looked in the AFD under both Avery County and Morrison Field. The airport is listed under Spruce Pine. The airport facility has since placed signs throughout the main building and on the runways.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain terrain clearance after turning the wrong way in a traffic pattern.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/5/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 948 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | SPRUCE PINE |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 28777 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | AVERY COUNTY-MORRISON |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 7A8 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 100 |
| Airport Elevation | 2750 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 950 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HKY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1189 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| 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) | 25 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 340 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 4500 |
| 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) | 362 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 5 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1240 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5807U |
| NTSB Number | ATL97LA096 |
| 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 | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-140 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28-140 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-26636 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2150 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 11 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 94 |
| Airframe Hours | 3230 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | TIMOTHY HARRELL |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 9941 E. PASEO SAN BERNARDO |
| Aircraft Owner City | TUSCON |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85747 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | DAVID R. CLONTZ |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 7210 LORD BARTON DRIVE |
| Operator City | FREDERICKSBURG |
| Operator State | VA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 22406 |
| 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 | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 945 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | EZF |
| Destination City | FREDERICKSBURG |
| Destination State | VA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| 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 | 16 |
| Runway Length | 3000 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |