Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Horace Williams Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514
Thursday, May 25, 2000 10:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the CFI, he and the student obtained their preflight weather briefing via the flight school's computer/CIRRUS WX software, and were advised that present weather was good but be alert to afternoon thunderstorms. At about the same time they departed, the local AFSS was advising subsequent flights, 'A line of thunderstorms was approaching from the west much more quickly than anticipated', and to reconsider flying at that time. The accident flight completed their first leg successfully, but encountered unexpectedly strong winds on their return leg's approach for landing. Despite the CFI's assuming control of the airplane, altitude and heading control was lost when encountering severely gusting winds and the flight collided with the terrain short of the intended landing point.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the CFI to delay his landing until the approaching line of thunderstorms passed, causing the flight to encounter severely gusting wind conditions resulting in the loss of altitude control and collision with the terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/25/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1045 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | CHAPEL HILL |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 27514 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | HORACE WILLIAMS |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | IGX |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 90 |
| Airport Elevation | 512 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1037 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | IGX |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 512 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 8500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3700 |
| 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) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 30 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 21 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 39 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 374 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Comm Ctr-Atlanta |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 25 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1220 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 4 2001 7:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N47561 |
| NTSB Number | MIA00LA171 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-161 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28-161 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-7816097 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2440 |
| 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 10 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 83 |
| Airframe Hours | 6245 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CHAPEL HILL FLYING CLUB, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P. O. BOX 191 |
| Aircraft Owner City | CHAPEL HILL |
| Aircraft Owner State | NC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 27514 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | RDU |
| Departure City | RALEIGH-DURHAM |
| Departure State | NC |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1015 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | IGX |
| Destination City | CHAPEL HILL |
| Destination State | NC |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 4 2001 7:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 27 |
| Runway Length | 4005 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |