Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Stilwell/Cherokee Nation Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Stilwell, Oklahoma 74960
Thursday, March 20, 1997 17:35 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot (plt) departed Cookson, OK, in a homebuilt aircraft (acft) for an approximate 30 minute flight to Stilwell, OK. Witnesses at Stilwell said he made a low pass on a northerly heading (about 50 ft off the ground) at a high rate of speed. One witness estimated the acft was traveling faster than 200 mph, when he saw the acft's right wing skin separate from the acft. The right wing then came off. The acft was observed to roll several times & travel about 1100 ft before it impacted the ground. Postimpact examination of the wreckage revealed a fracture in the wing spar about 18 inches in from the right wing tip. There was a discoloration in the fracture, which had the appearance of a varnish like substance. An FAA inspector reported that 'there were different color glue joints in the wing construction indicating that there were different kinds of glue used.' Also, the failure mode differed; the dark glue joints failed in the wooden structure, where as, the other glue joints failed in the bond. Some of the wing joints that had failed had discoloration between the rib & the wooden skin. The inspector suggested that 'either improper clamping during construction, prevarnishing of the contact surfaces, or bond separation followed by moisture weathering could have caused this.' The plt had purchased the homebuilt acft on 10/1/96. It had been originally certificated for flight on 10/27/72. On 2/11/73, it had been damaged during a takeoff mishap, & 'new wing construction' had been performed.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
failure of the right wing spar and/or debonding of the right wing skin, which resulted in separation of the wing skin and a portion of the right wing, during high speed flight. Factors related to the accident were: previous wing damage and inadequate maintenance by other (unknown) personnel.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/20/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1735 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | STILWELL |
| Event State | OKLAHOMA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 74960 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | STILWELL/CHEROKEE NATION |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | O11 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 155 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FSM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 469 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 25 |
| 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) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| 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) | 557 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 24 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 746 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:09PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N86T |
| NTSB Number | FTW97FA135 |
| 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 | Teschendorf |
| Aircraft Model | CASSUTT SPORT |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | CASSUTT SP |
| Aircraft Serial Number | T1 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 929 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DANIEL K. STONE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | HC 73, BOX 56-1A |
| Aircraft Owner City | PARK HILL |
| Aircraft Owner State | OK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 74451 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 44M |
| Departure City | COOKSON |
| Departure State | OK |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1705 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | 011 |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | OK |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| 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 | -- |