Erie-Tri-County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Erie, Colorado 80516
Thursday, September 28, 2000 18:50 MDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

During a dual instructional flight, the student pilot was practicing touch-and-go landings. The flight instructor gave him a practice engine out approach to landing. During final approach, a high sink rate occurred and the aircraft landed hard, bounced, and came to rest in a ditch beside the runway. Both wings, all the landing gear, and the propeller suffered damage. The student pilot had 27 hours total experience and the flight instructor had 56 hours in make and model, but no experience in make and model in the preceding 90 days. The accident occurred during daylight hours and the weather was winds from the north at 3 knots, clear skies, and a density altitude of 8,200 feet. The landings were being performed to runway 15.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

Inadequate supervision by the certified flight instructor. Factors were loss of control by the student pilot, the flight instructor's failure to properly monitor the student pilot's rate of descent on final approach, and the flight instructor's lack of recent experience in make and model.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/28/2000
Event Day of the Week Thursday
Time of Event 1850
Event Time Zone Mountain Daylight Time
Event City ERIE
Event State COLORADO
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 80516
Event Date Year 2000
Event Date Month 9
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude --
Event Location Longitude --
Event Location Airport ERIE-TRI-COUNTY
Event Location Nearest Airport ID 48V
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 5130
Weather Briefing Completeness Unknown
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1745 Mountain Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 180
Weather Observation Facility ID BJC
Elevation of weather observation facility 5671
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 15
Time Zone of the weather observation MDT
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) 25
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 25
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 1
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 0
Variable Wind Indicator Unknown
Wind Speed (knots) 3
Wind Velocity Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) 0
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30
Density Altitude (feet) 8200
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 2
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 309
NTSB Notification Source FAA NW OPERATIONS CENTER
NTSB Notification Date Sep 28 2000 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1900
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information IMAGE
Date of most recent change to record Mar 4 2001 7:07AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office --

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N9622L
NTSB Number DEN00LA180
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 Grumman American
Aircraft Model AA-1B
Aircraft Series Identifier AA-1B
Aircraft Serial Number 0122
Certified Max Gross Weight 1600
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 2
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Jun 26 2000 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 21
Airframe Hours 2564
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated Yes
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name L. SHERMAN BUTLER
Aircraft Owner Street Address 200 MARBLE STREET #201
Aircraft Owner City BROOMFIELD
Aircraft Owner State CO
Aircraft Owner Country
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 80020
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 Yes
Departure Point Same as Event Yes
Departure Airport Code 48V
Departure City
Departure State
Departure Country
Departure Time 1730
Departure Time Zone MDT
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 7:07AM
User who most recently changed record dbo
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 15
Runway Length 4700
Runway Width 60
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --