Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Mcnary Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Salem, Oregon 97302
Monday, May 1, 2000 8:18 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot/builder of the kitplane took off from runway 13 on the aircraft's initial test flight and immediately encountered a nose heavy condition. He declared an emergency and maneuvered to land on runway 34. He reported that during his approach the aircraft was controllable as long as power was applied, but on short final he instinctively reduced power and the nose of the aircraft abruptly pitched down. The aircraft then impacted the ground and slid up onto the runway. The center of gravity range limits had been calculated by the pilot/builder as between 10.5 to 19.5 inches with the aircraft's empty weight CG at 11.0 inches. Following the calculations, the pilot/builder changed the aircraft's battery (located forward of the cockpit) which added 7 pounds, and added a new engine exhaust system adding 2-3 additional pounds. A new CG was not calculated. Center of gravity calculations based on the earlier weight/CG of the aircraft, including the weight of the pilot and the 96 pounds of fuel also placed the CG 0.5 inch forward of the old forward limit.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot/builder's failure to correct the center of gravity computations after a weight increase. A contributing factor was the pilot/builder's exceeding the forward CG limit in fuel weight, of which both conditions resulted in a degradation of aircraft control.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/1/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 818 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | SALEM |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97302 |
| 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 | MCNARY FIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SLE |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 210 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 756 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SLE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 210 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| 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 | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 215 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA SEA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 1 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 850 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 10 2001 10:16AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1143L |
| NTSB Number | SEA00LA079 |
| 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 | MORTON |
| Aircraft Model | CHRISTAVIA MARK I |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | CHRISTAVIA |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MORTON, JOHN, W. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 192 SALEM HEIGHTS AVENUE SE |
| Aircraft Owner City | SALEM |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97302 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SLE |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 816 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| 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 10 2001 12:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 34 |
| Runway Length | 5145 |
| Runway Width | 140 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |