Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Florence, New Jersey 08009
Saturday, December 25, 1999 14:00 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
About 30 minutes after takeoff, the pilot felt a 'buzz,' which lasted approximately 2 seconds. The airplane then shook violently, so the pilot retarded the throttle to reduce the shaking. He then turned the magnetos off, one at a time, and reapplied power, but the shaking returned with each power application. Carburetor heat was also applied, with no effect. The pilot then tried to add enough power to maintain altitude, but still found that its application resulted in violent shaking. Power was again reduced to keep the airplane controllable. The pilot attempted to guide the airplane to a nearby airport, but could not hold altitude, and headed for a plowed field. He tried to align the airplane with the furrows, but was unable to due to the approach angle. Upon touchdown, the landing gear collapsed, and the wing spars were damaged. During post-flight examination, part of one of the wooden propeller blades was found to be missing. There was no evidence of a bird strike. The propeller had been bolted onto the hub with the correct torque's, and the cowling had been found securely fastened to the airframe. The engine was also examined, with no significant anomalies noted, and there was no indication of airframe flutter.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of one of the propeller blades. A factor was the necessity land across, rather than in alignment with, the furrowed terrain due to the nature of the emergency.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/25/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1400 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | FLORENCE |
| Event State | NEW JERSEY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 08009 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1353 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 5 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TTN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 213 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| 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) | -4 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 230 |
| 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 | 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) | 1561 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 4 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1140 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 13 2001 1:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8ZZ |
| NTSB Number | NYC00LA061 |
| 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 | Zielke |
| Aircraft Model | RV-4 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | RV-4 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3407 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 1 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 40 |
| Airframe Hours | 230 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | LOUIS I. WILLIG |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1640 OAKWOOD DRIVE, APT W105 |
| Aircraft Owner City | PENN VALLEY |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19072 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PNE |
| Departure City | PHILADELPHIA |
| Departure State | PA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| 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 | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:35AM |
| 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 | -- |