Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Columbia Metropolitan Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Columbia, South Carolina 29170
Thursday, December 25, 1997 23:38 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight departed and was uneventful until about 20 miles from the destination airport when the engine lost power. The engine was restarted and the pilot was advised of two alternate landing airports, but the pilot continued toward the planned destination. The engine quit several more times, once while directly overhead an airport. Unable to land at the destination airport, while descending for a forced landing, the airplane collided with a tree. About 3/4 to 1 cup and 1 cup of fuel were drained from the left and right fuel tanks respectively. The airplane was over gross at takeoff, but within weight and balance at the time of the accident. An open circuit of the left fuel tank transmitter was noted, but no determination was made as to the reason. The estimated time en route per the flight plan was 2 hours 5 minutes, but calculated post accident to be 3 hours 48 minutes. The actual time takeoff-to-landing was 3 hours 34 minutes. Based on the postaccident calculations, the total fuel consumption for the flight was about 37 gallons, with the flight departing with an estimated 38 gallons.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate preflight planning, and his poor in-flight decision making.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/25/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 2338 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | COLUMBIA |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29170 |
| 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 | COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CAE |
| 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 | 236 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2356 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CAE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 236 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| 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) | 8 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| 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) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1659 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 26 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 5 |
| 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 | N9514K |
| NTSB Number | MIA98LA046 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-151 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28-151 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7615208 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2325 |
| 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 | Oct 2 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 71 |
| Airframe Hours | 3143 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | TAR HEEL AVIATION, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 916 |
| Aircraft Owner City | JACKSONVILLE |
| Aircraft Owner State | NC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 28541 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 278 ALBERT ELLIS AIRPORT RD. |
| Operator City | RICHLANDS |
| Operator State | NC |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 28574 |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CPK |
| Departure City | CHESAPEAKE |
| Departure State | VA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2004 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | CAE |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| 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 | -- |