Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Taft - Kern County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Taft, California 93268
Thursday, July 15, 1999 18:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The student pilot was going to practice landings. He planned to land on runway 25 and depart on runway 07 due to terrain and runway slope considerations. He said the winds were from 050 degrees at 10 to 12 knots. He made a go-around on his first attempted landing, then made a full stop landing on runway 25 and took off on runway 7. On his third attempt, he landed on runway 25 with full flaps and the airplane began drifting to the right as it slowed down. As he was correcting, he felt the nose wheel 'skid/shimmy.' He was approximately halfway down the runway at 35 knots, when the airplane departed the right side of the runway and he decided to abort the landing. He re-entered the runway with approximately 150 yards of pavement remaining and rotated at approximately 50 knots with 30 yards of asphalt remaining. During the takeoff initial climb, the airplane collided with trees and a power lines. Examination of the runway determined the airplane veered about 80 feet off the runway into a dirt area, and that the airplane lifted off about 270 yards from the airport boundary fence. The first set of power lines was less than 0.25-mile from the runway.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's selection of the wrong runway in consideration of the wind conditions and his subsequent failure to maintain directional control. The pilot's decision to abort the landing attempt with inadequate runway remaining for the takeoff phase was also causal.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/15/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1800 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | TAFT |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93268 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | TAFT - KERN COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | L17 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 250 |
| Airport Elevation | 875 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1756 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 215 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BFL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 669 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 26 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| 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) | 36 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| 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 | 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 | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1705 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 15 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1818 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 14 2001 2:37PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N46451 |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA252 |
| 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 | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172K |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 172K |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17257278 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 9 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 10 |
| Airframe Hours | 3295 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | KERN CHARTER SERVICE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 410 E PLANE RD |
| Aircraft Owner City | BAKERSFIELD |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93307 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | ANDY GRIFFITH |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | L45 |
| Departure City | BAKERSFIELD |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1715 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | L17 |
| 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 14 2001 10:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 25 |
| Runway Length | 3550 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |