Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Sylvania Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sturtevant, Wisconsin 53177
Saturday, December 13, 1997 15:45 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Witnesses reported the airplane approached the runway at a '...very low angle... .' The airplane crossed a 4-lane highway that was perpendicular to the runway and final approach course. The landing gear struck the top of a southbound semi-trailer truck's air deflector and trailer, then the airplane collided with the ground about 140-feet west of the truck collision point. According to the pilot's logbook, she had accumulated over 37 hours of total flight experience. She had flown about 26 hours at an airport that had runways 100 and 150-feet wide, and about 11 hours at the accident airport runway, 33 feet wide. According to a Human Performance Specialist at the FAA's Civil Aeromedical Institute, runway width differences may be a source of distortion in perception during landing. When the runway is narrower than normal, the pilot may experience an illusion that causes them to fly a lower than normal final approach path.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's misjudgment of altitude/distance and her failure to maintain adequate visual lookout. Also causal was the pilot's failure to maintain adequate obstacle clearance. A contributing factor was the pilot experiencing a visual illusion.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/13/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1545 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | STURTEVANT |
| Event State | WISCONSIN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 53177 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | SYLVANIA AIRPORT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | C89 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 90 |
| Airport Elevation | 789 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1550 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 155 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ENW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 720 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 6 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| 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) | 6 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| 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) | 29 |
| 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) | 1861 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 13 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1810 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5454S |
| NTSB Number | CHI98LA061 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-140 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28-140 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7125120 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2050 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 18 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SYLVANIA FLYING CLUB, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 14918 WASHINGTON AVE. |
| Aircraft Owner City | UNION GROVE |
| Aircraft Owner State | WI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 53182 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Unknown |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | C89 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1540 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | C89 |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26L |
| Runway Length | 2300 |
| Runway Width | 33 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |