Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Teterboro Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Teterboro, New Jersey 07608
Wednesday, September 16, 1998 19:40 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot landed at his destination at night. While taxing, he was unable to locate the airplane's taxi/landing, and panel lights. He was given progressive taxi instructions by the ground controller, and was instructed to make a right turn onto taxiway 'B' and to 'expedite' his crossing of runway 1/19. The pilot made a right turn onto taxiway 'B' and applied power. He said it was 'absolutely dark' and he did not see the taxiway center line lights anymore. The pilot lost control of the airplane, struck the sign for the 'P/L/B' intersection, and traveled about 50 feet past the sign, into the runway 1/19 safety area. Taxiway 'B' contained center line lighting only, and all of the taxiway center line lights were functional. Examination of the wreckage did not revealed any pre-impact abnormalities. A check of the airplane's landing/taxi light revealed it worked normally. The pilot reported about 210 hours of total flight experience, of which about 65 hours were in make and model. The pilot stated he possessed a total of about 10 hours of night flight experience and had not flown at night since 1973.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane. Factors in this accident were the night light conditions, and pilot's lack of recent night flight experience.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/16/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1940 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | TETERBORO |
| Event State | NEW JERSEY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 07608 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | TETERBORO |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TEB |
| 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 | 9 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1951 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TEB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 9 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 9000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 7000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| 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) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1476 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 18 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 900 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2001 1:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N64453 |
| NTSB Number | NYC98LA189 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172M |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 172M |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17265240 |
| 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 | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DANNY ORTIZ |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 202 12TH STREET APT7 |
| Aircraft Owner City | PALISADES PARK |
| Aircraft Owner State | NJ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 07650 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | SPARTA AVIATION, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 150 FRED WHERAN DRIVE |
| Operator City | TETERBORO |
| Operator State | NJ |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 07608 |
| 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 | 1B1 |
| Departure City | HUDSON |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1810 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | TEB |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 23 2001 1:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 1 |
| Runway Length | 7500 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |