Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Saratoga County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ballston Spa, New York 12020
Thursday, March 30, 2000 14:24 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor and student pilot departed on a local training flight. Witnesses observed the airplane on its initial climb roll off on its left wing and descend into a wooded area. One witness thought the airplane was in a steep nose up climb prior to rolling left and descending. A post crash fire destroyed the cockpit/cabin, and the seat rails and forward seats could not identified. No evidence of a pre-existing mechanical failure or malfunction was found with the airplane or engine. A previous seat slippage was documented for the left seat in the airplane a month earlier. However, there was no evidence that it had occurred again. The airplane was equipped with primary seat locks to prevent the seats from slipping off of the end of the seat rails. Cessna Aircraft Co. issued a service bulletin on secondary seat locks to prevent rearward seat slippage, which they classified as mandatory. However, the bulletin had not been accomplished on the airplane, and was not required by the FAA. A check of medical records revealed the student pilot was 6 ft 3 inches tall, and weighed 288 pounds, while the flight instructor was 5 ft, 10 inches tall, and weighted 156 pounds.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a loss of control for undetermined reason(s).
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/30/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1424 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | BALLSTON SPA |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 12020 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | SARATOGA COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 5B2 |
| 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 | 433 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1435 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | 5B2 |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 433 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 4200 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3300 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 6 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 18 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 0 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 391 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 30 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1500 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 9 2001 8:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N98574 |
| NTSB Number | NYC00FA106 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172P |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 172P |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17276313 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2400 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 23 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 12 |
| Airframe Hours | 7230 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | BALLSTON SPA |
| Aircraft Owner State | NY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 12020 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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 | BQVS |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | 5B2 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1424 |
| 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 | Jan 7 2002 9:54AM |
| User who most recently changed record | JOHB |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 23 |
| Runway Length | 4700 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |