Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Ashe County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lansing, North Carolina 28643
Tuesady, December 2, 1997 13:15 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was seen flying low, in a westerly direction, through a valley about 5 miles west of the departure airport. The airplane struck a utility wire that stretched north and south across the valley and a road. The airplane then continued on a heading of 340 degrees for about 500 feet where the right wing separated from the airframe. The airplane came to rest about 300 feet south of a private home, in the front yard. The home was owned by the the pilot/owner's cousin. Two men sitting in a pickup truck near the crash site said in a statement to police, they were in the truck with the engine off and the windows down. The driver said they were sitting there for about 5 minutes when he looked out his left window and saw the airplane coming toward them. The driver said he 'does not recall hearing the engine running' on the airplane as it was coming down. The driver told his passenger to 'duck he's going to hit us.' In addition, the truck's driver said, '...he [saw] the right wing hit a cable,' and then come off just before impact with the ground. Local residents said that the pilot/owner of the airplane lived in a house a short distance west of the crash site, and had flown around the area often. The airplane had not been seen in the area on the day of the accident. It was revealed that rescue workers had remove the utility wire that was wrapped around the airframe in order to extract the victim from the cockpit. The wire was found lying to the right rear of the airplane. The right wing had separated from the airframe and was located east of the main wreckage. The right wing displayed wire strike marks on the wing strut. The strut was found separated from the wing. Examination of the engine and propeller did not reveal any discrepancies.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain clearance from a wire.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/2/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1315 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | LANSING |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 28643 |
| 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 | ASHE COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NC67 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 270 |
| Airport Elevation | 3180 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1253 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 280 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TRI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1519 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 30 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| 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) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 20 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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) | 1409 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 2 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1430 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:43PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9613P |
| NTSB Number | MIA98FA039 |
| 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 | Christen Industries |
| Aircraft Model | A-1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | A-1 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1173 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| 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 | Dec 5 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 48 |
| Airframe Hours | 475 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JAMES ALLEN POWERS |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | POB 248 |
| Aircraft Owner City | LANSING |
| Aircraft Owner State | NC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 28643 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | NC67 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1305 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| 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 | Other |
| 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 | -- |