Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
St Petersburg-Clearwater Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Clearwater, Florida 33762
Saturday, December 19, 1998 17:14 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The student had failed the soft field takeoff procedure during a commercial checkride 3 days earlier and was flying with his flight instructor for additional training. The instructor stated that the student had the tendency to allow the airplane to drift to the left after the nose wheel came off the ground. The flight departed and with the student performing a soft field takeoff, the airplane began drifting to the left. The instructor advised the student to apply 'a lot more right rudder!' and the student applied 'way too much' right rudder. While flying in a cross controlled condition, the instructor attempted to regain control but the airplane stalled and the left wing of the airplane contacted the runway, followed by the right wing. The airplane then traveled off the runway onto grass and came to rest with the right main landing gear collapsed. The instructor stated that he should have taken corrective action sooner. Examination of the airplane revealed a bent and broken threaded portion of a rod end for the retract/extension rod.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The delay by the pilot-in-command (CFI) to take control of the airplane and inadvertent stall/mush resulting in the uncontrolled descent and impact with the runway.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/19/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1714 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | CLEARWATER |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 33762 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| 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 | 1715 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PIE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 11 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 110 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1464 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 19 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1945 |
| 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 | N5836P |
| NTSB Number | MIA99LA052 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-24-250 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-24-250 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24-917 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2800 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 13 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 164 |
| Airframe Hours | 5110 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CROSSWINDS AVIATION, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1417 TURNER ST. |
| Aircraft Owner City | CLEARWATER |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33756 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | MARK R. WHITNEY |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | PIE |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1713 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | 9 |
| Runway Length | 5165 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |