Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Eppler Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lebanon, Oklahoma 73440
Saturday, March 28, 1998 17:30 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
About 40 minutes into the personal flight, the homebuilt airplane's engine began "cutting out and kicking back in." Although the wind was from the south at 10 to 15 knots, the pilot elected to land the airplane downwind to the north on a grass airstrip, due to a concern that landing into the wind could result in a collision with mobile homes at the south end of the strip in case of an overrun. The airplane touched down about two-thirds of the way down the 3,000 foot long strip, overran the north end of the strip, nosed over, and came to a stop in the inverted position. Examination by an FAA inspector revealed that the gascolator bowl was full of water, and water was found in fuel drained from the left fuel tank. The passenger reported that the airplane was washed before the flight. According to the owner of the airplane, at an earlier date, he left the airplane parked outside, it rained overnight, and he found considerable water in the fuel system the next day.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate compensation for the tailwind and his ensuing failure to attain the proper touchdown point. Factors were the tailwind and the pilot's failure to adequately preflight the airplane which resulted in a partial loss of engine power due to water contamination of the fuel.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/28/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1730 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | LEBANON |
| Event State | OKLAHOMA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 73440 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | EPPLER |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NONE |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1649 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 340 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ADM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 762 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 12000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 25 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 82 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 57 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 26 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10456 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 28 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2030 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 7 2001 7:37AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N83LE |
| NTSB Number | FTW98LA162 |
| 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 | Carter |
| Aircraft Model | LONG-EZ |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | LONG-EZ |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 890 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | EZ AVIATION |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 16950 DALLAS PARKWAY, STE 105 |
| Aircraft Owner City | DALLAS |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75248 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | DONALD L. JUDY |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 4815 WESTGROVE DR., APT. 2001 |
| Operator City | DALLAS |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 75248 |
| 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 | ADS |
| Departure City | DALLAS |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1640 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| 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 | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 28 2001 5:09PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | 3000 |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |