Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
St Charles County Smartt Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
St Charles, Missouri 63301
Monday, October 20, 1997 16:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot said that the airplane had to be 'jump started' at the flight's origination. Shortly after departing, the pilot lost radio communications. Later in the flight, the pilot noted that both fuel gages read empty. The pilot elected to land at a closer airport than his planned destination. Approaching the airport, the pilot attempted to extend the landing gear. Nothing happened. The pilot flew north of the airport and went through the emergency landing gear extension procedure. The pilot returned to the airport and made a low pass over the runway, hoping someone would see him and give him a 'wave off' if the gear was not down. The pilot made another attempt to land, but had to perform a go-around for another airplane in the traffic pattern. On his final landing attempt, the pilot reduced airspeed and established himself on final for a straight-in approach to the runway. The airplane touched down on its 'belly' and slid to a stop on the runway. Examination of the airplane's alternator revealed that the front bearing was broken. Testing of the manual gear extension system revealed that the handcrank would not engage every time the handcrank engage lever was placed in the 'forward' position.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
failure of the alternator's front bearing, depletion of battery power, and failure of the emergency landing gear extension handcrank to engage during the pilot's attempt to perform the emergency procedure.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/20/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1630 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | ST CHARLES |
| Event State | MISSOURI |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 63301 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | ST CHARLES COUNTY SMARTT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 3SZ |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 180 |
| Airport Elevation | 436 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2253 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 155 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | STL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 605 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 0 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 636 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 21 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1440 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9449V |
| NTSB Number | CHI98LA020 |
| 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 | Mooney |
| Aircraft Model | M20C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | M20C |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 700051 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2775 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 31 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 31 |
| Airframe Hours | 3500 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JOHN ALAN SAXTON |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 832 SOUTH 9TH STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | EDWARDSVILLE |
| Aircraft Owner State | KS |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 66111 |
| 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) | Ferry |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | GVW |
| Departure City | KANSAS CITY |
| Departure State | MO |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1450 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | K02 |
| Destination City | PERRYVILLE |
| Destination State | MO |
| 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 | 36 |
| Runway Length | 3801 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |