Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Pangborn Memorial Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Wenatchee, Washington 98802
Saturday, May 20, 2000 16:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While taxing his aircraft back to the hangar after having it on display at his home airport, the pilot changed his mind and decided to take a short local flight. Prior to takeoff, he failed to ensure that he had performed all action items contained in the aircraft checklist. As a result, he inadvertently failed to engage the right clam-shell door aft locking mechanism. Just after takeoff, the door came open, and instead of continuing around the pattern in order to make a precautionary landing, the pilot attempted to close the door while in flight. While reaching across to the far side of the cabin and struggling to close the door, the pilot's seat pan shifted, resulting in restricted movement of the control stick. The pilot then executed a forced landing in an open field, but during the roll out, the aircraft entered an orchard of fruit trees where it sustained substantial damage.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper decision to attempt to close the canopy (entry door) after it inadvertently opened in flight, instead of making a precautionary landing with it open. Factors include the pilot's failure to follow all items on the checklist, his failure to fully secure the canopy/door prior to takeoff, the movement of the pilot's seat pan while in flight, the restriction of the control stick movement by the displaced seat pan, and the pilot/builders failure to adequately secure the seat pan to the airframe.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/20/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1600 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | WENATCHEE |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98802 |
| 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 | PANGBORN MEMORIAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | EAT |
| 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 | 300 |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| 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) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| 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) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 770 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 20 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1540 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 11 2001 4:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1757 |
| NTSB Number | SEA00LA089 |
| 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 | Gifford |
| Aircraft Model | TR-4 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | TR-4 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 4027 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2380 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 18 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1 |
| Airframe Hours | 74 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WAYNE C. GIFFORD |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 708 DANIELS DR NE |
| Aircraft Owner City | EAST WENATCHEE |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98802 |
| 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 | EAT |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1600 |
| 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 | May 11 2001 4:06AM |
| 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 | -- |