Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Orange County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Montgomery, New York 12549
Sunday, June 11, 2000 15:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While the pilot was taxiing, he realized that the wind was blowing from a direction behind the airplane and 'my indicator showed no froward air movement although I was doing 45 mph.' Dust and grass blew by the airplane, and the controls were being forced from behind. As the pilot made a 180-degree right hand turn on the taxiway to the ramp, a squall pushed the airplane sideways, lifted the right wing up, and rotated the airplane on the left wing tip. The airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted. The pilot estimated that the winds at the time of the accident were in excess of 60 mph. The winds reported at the airport, at 1454, were from 260 degrees at 8 knots, gusts to 18 knots, variable from 220 degrees to 280 degrees.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane while taxiing. Factors related to the accident were the gusting wind conditions and the pilot's improper weather evaluation.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/11/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1530 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | MONTGOMERY |
| Event State | NEW YORK |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 12549 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | ORANGE COUNTY AIRPORT |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MGJ |
| 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 | 365 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1454 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MGJ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 365 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| 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) | 33 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 18 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| 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) | 405 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Teterboro, NJ FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 14 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1009 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 4 2001 7:09AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N544AA |
| NTSB Number | NYC00LA163 |
| 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 | Pratt |
| Aircraft Model | FALCON XP |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | FALCON XP |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 600166 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 13 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 3 |
| Airframe Hours | 313 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MICHEL FITHIAN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 155 OSCAWANA LAKE ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | PUTNAM VALLEY |
| Aircraft Owner State | NY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 10579 |
| 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 | MGJ |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1500 |
| 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 | Mar 4 2001 7:09AM |
| 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 | -- |