Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Statesville Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Statesville, North Carolina 28677
Saturday, June 6, 1998 14:00 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot received three weather briefings before takeoff; the flight departed VFR with no flight plan. Witnesses reported hearing a low flying airplane with a sputtering engine, followed by the engine revving up and an impact. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed in the area, with 2 1/2 statue miles visiblity in heavy rain, and fog reported at 1355 at a weather observation station, about 102 degrees magnetic and 4.88 nautical miles from the crash site A search for the overdue airplane was conducted; it was located 3 days after the accident. Examination of the airplane, flight controls, and engine revealed no evidence of pre-impact failure or malfunction. No maintenance logbooks for the airplane nor the pilot's pilot logbook were located. No determination could be made if the pilot was current to fly in instrument meteorological conditions. Copies of maintenance records from the last country of registration indicate that the airplane was last inspected on October 21, 1993. The ELT did not operate due to being in the 'off' position, and battery voltage less than required. The airplane had been operated for an estimated 2 hours 53 minutes since the fuel tanks were filled. There was no record of the pilot obtaining any in-flight advisories.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's attempted flight into adverse weather, resulting in a loss of control in flight. Contributing factors were the pilot's failure to obtain updated weather information, rain, and fog.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/6/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1400 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | STATESVILLE |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 28677 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | STATESVILLE MUNICIPAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SVH |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 6 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 102 |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1355 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 282 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SVH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 965 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 400 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 2.5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 20 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| 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 | Heavy |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1341 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 9 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 809 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 11:32AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | TGHUH |
| NTSB Number | MIA98FA182 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-24-260 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-24-260 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24-4642 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3100 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | Foreign Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | |
| Aircraft Owner State | |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | KENNETH M. BLEAVINS |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 633 RIDGE ST. |
| Operator City | ALBEMARLE |
| Operator State | NC |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 28001 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 28A |
| Departure City | INDIAN TRAIL |
| Departure State | NC |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1335 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 9A9 |
| Destination City | MARION |
| Destination State | NC |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| 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 | -- |