St. Petersburg/Clearwater Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

St. Petersburg, Florida 33762
Thursday, February 19, 1998 16:09 EST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

Although airport surface winds were shifting throughout the 29 minutes of practice landings, exemplified by three runway changes, the pilot had no airplane control difficulties until after his final full stop landing as he was holding short for taxi clearance back to his FBO. Wind gusts, reported by tower personnel to be about two minutes in duration, reversed direction from west to east as a rain shower traversed the field, lifted the tail until the airplane's longitudinal axis was vertical, and blew it over into an inverted position.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

a sudden encounter with wind gusts associated with a quickly passing rain shower which resulted in a nose-over, and subsequent collision with the runway.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 2/19/1998
Event Day of the Week Thursday
Time of Event 1609
Event Time Zone Eastern Standard Time
Event City ST. PETERSBURG
Event State FLORIDA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 33762
Event Date Year 1998
Event Date Month 2
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude
Event Location Longitude
Event Location Airport ST. PETERSBURG/CLEARWATER
Event Location Nearest Airport ID PIE
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 11
Weather Briefing Completeness Unknown
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1621 Eastern Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 190
Weather Observation Facility ID PIE
Elevation of weather observation facility 11
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 1
Time Zone of the weather observation EST
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 5500
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 4000
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Scattered
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Broken
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) 0
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) 0
Visibility (Statute Miles) 4
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 23
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 22
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 10
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 9
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 Light
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) 807
NTSB Notification Source --
NTSB Notification Date Feb 19 1998 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1622
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Jan 10 2001 10:09AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N1430F
NTSB Number MIA98LA080
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 Cessna
Aircraft Model 172H
Aircraft Series Identifier 172H
Aircraft Serial Number 17254925
Certified Max Gross Weight 2300
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 Feb 23 1997 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 279
Airframe Hours 2999
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated Yes
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name DONALD E. MCBRIDE
Aircraft Owner Street Address 9197 88TH ST. N
Aircraft Owner City LARGO
Aircraft Owner State FL
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 33777
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
Departure City
Departure State
Departure Country
Departure Time 1540
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 Taxi
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Jan 10 2001 12:27PM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 27
Runway Length 5165
Runway Width 150
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --