Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Orange Hill Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chipley, Florida 32428
Sunday, April 2, 2000 20:20 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot received a weather briefing before departure and also requested an outlook for the next morning; the briefing specialist advising that he would be better off going tonight. A flashlight was placed on a fencepost midpoint of the runway and a car was positioned at the departure end of the runway facing the approach end with 'dim lights'. After rotation, the pilot-rated witness observed the airplane bank to the left. The airplane then pitched up steep, collided with the tops of trees that bordered the left side of the runway, and 'turned from an almost vertical nose up to a vertical nose down attitude to the right and hit the ground.' Postaccident examination of the flight controls and engine revealed no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction or engine mechanical failure, respectively. Bench testing of the servo fuel injector revealed the fuel flow was erratic and the fuel flow in terms of pounds per hour (pph) was 2.0 pph less than specified. The operator prohibited operations into grass airstrips; the pilot was reportedly previously made aware of this procedure. The pilot also did not meet the operator's prescribed number of complex takeoff and landings before rental.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the pilot to maintain runway alignment during the initial climb from the grass airstrip. Also, the excessive pull-up by the pilot and inadvertent stall. Findings in the investigation were 1) in-flight collision with the tops of trees and 2) the pilot's operation of the airplane into a grass airstrip contrary to the operator's procedures.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/2/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 2020 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | CHIPLEY |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32428 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | ORANGE HILL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 15FD |
| 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 | 260 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1953 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 60 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MAI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 110 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 21 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3800 |
| 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) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 170 |
| 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) | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 463 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COM.CTR ATLANTA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 2 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2305 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 25 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 | N1997Q |
| NTSB Number | MIA00FA126 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 177RG |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 177RG |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 177RG0397 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2800 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 26 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 38 |
| Airframe Hours | 1962 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CHARLES C. COURTOIS |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 326 BIRDIE ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | GRIFFIN |
| Aircraft Owner State | GA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 30223 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | GRIFFIN FLIGHT SCHOOL |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 5 FALCON DR. |
| Operator City | PEACHTREE CITY |
| Operator State | GA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 30269 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 15FD |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2020 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | FFC |
| Destination City | PEACHTREE CITY |
| Destination State | GA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 25 2001 4:10AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 19 |
| Runway Length | 2090 |
| Runway Width | 80 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |