Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Chester County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Coatesville, Pennsylvania 19320
Saturday, April 3, 1993 10:55 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE KIT PLANE WAS ON A TEST FLIGHT WITH A HARTZELL LIMITED PRODUCTION/CONSTANT SPEED/NON-FEATHERING/FULL REVERSING PROP. THE PILOT STATED THAT IN THE 1ST POWER-OFF GLIDE, HE SET THE THROTTLE TO IDLE & THE PROP TO LOW PITCH; ABOUT 10 TO 15 SEC LATER, THE ENGINE RACED & THE PROP APPEARED TO GO TO ZERO PITCH. HE SAID MOVEMENT OF THE PROP CONTROL & THROTTLE HAD NO EFFECT; THE PASSENGER SAID THE THROTTLE WAS ADVANCED & RPM OVERSPED EVEN MORE. ALTITUDE COULD NOT BE MAINTAINED & A FORCED LANDING WAS MADE ON ROUGH TERRAIN. AN INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE PROP BLADE ANGLE LIMITS WERE WITHIN THE PRESCRIBED -15 TO +26.2 DEG LIMITS. THE LOW PITCH BLADE ANGLE WAS SET FOR 3.7 DEG, BUT SPECIFICATIONS FOR TYPICAL HARTZELL & LYCOMING ENGINE COMBINATIONS HAD LOW PITCH BLADE ANGLES RANGING FROM 12 TO 13.5 DEG. TESTING OF THE PROPELLER DISCLOSED THAT THE CENTRIFUGAL LOW PITCH START LOCKS WOULD NOT ENGAGE, IF THE GOVERNOR OIL PRESSURE REMAINED AT OR ABOVE 120 PSI AFTER START LOCK DISENGAGEMENT.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
IMPROPER ADJUSTMENT SETTING OF THE PROPELLER PITCH CHANGE MECHANISM AND/OR PROPELLER GOVERNOR OUTPUT PRESSURE, WHICH RESULTED IN A LOSS OF POSITIVE THRUST AND A FORCED LANDING.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/3/1993 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1055 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | COATESVILLE |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 19320 |
| Event Date Year | 1993 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | CHESTER COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 40N |
| 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 | 661 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| 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) | 12 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 6 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 350 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 21 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1549 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 3 1993 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1220 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 11 2000 1:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N465W |
| NTSB Number | NYC93LA067 |
| 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 | SILVA |
| Aircraft Model | SEAWIND 3000 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | SEAWIND 30 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 003 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 23 1993 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4 |
| Airframe Hours | 4 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | RICHARD SILVA |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1450 PIKELAND ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | CHESTER |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19425 |
| 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) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 40N |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1000 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 40N |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 29 |
| Runway Length | 5400 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |