Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Wingfoot Lake Balloonport Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mogadore, Ohio 44260
Thursday, October 28, 1999 18:41 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot of the fly-by-wire airship flew several traffic patterns and approaches from both the pilot and co-pilot stations. After he departed the traffic pattern and leveled the airship, it entered an uncommanded, descending left-hand turn. The control panel displayed no indication of a malfunction, and emergency and troubleshooting procedures failed to regain control of the airship. The airship landed in trees, and both the pilot and the technician on board escaped injury. Metallurgical examination of the actuators that convert electrical signals to mechanical flight control inputs revealed that the splined shafts on the output side of the starboard actuator were almost completely stripped, and provided no flight control input. The gear teeth of the splined shafts on the output side of the port actuator were worn to 25 percent of their original thickness, and did not provide full flight control input. Hardness testing revealed the output shafts of both the port and starboard actuators did not meet the manufacturer's specified hardness requirement. The manager of the airship fleet said the one-of-a-kind airship would not be rebuilt.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the flight control system manufacturer to meet design (hardness) specifications that resulted in stripped splines.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/28/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1841 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | MOGADORE |
| Event State | OHIO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 44260 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | WINGFOOT LAKE BALLOONPORT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 4OH6 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 360 |
| Airport Elevation | 1164 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1751 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 347 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CAK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1228 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 4 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1188 |
| 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) | 1882 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 29 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1228 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 19 2001 4:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4A |
| NTSB Number | IAD00LA002 |
| 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 | Loral Corp. |
| Aircraft Model | GZ-22 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | GZ-22 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 4120 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 16500 |
| Aircraft Category | Blimp |
| 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 | 10 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 19 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 43 |
| Airframe Hours | 12632 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | THE GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1144 EAST MARKET STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | AKRON |
| Aircraft Owner State | OH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 44316 |
| 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) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 4OH6 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1725 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| 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 | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 19 2001 4:07AM |
| 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 | -- |