Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Sparta Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sparta, Michigan 49345
Wednesday, October 25, 2000 7:17 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane struck trees and terrain about 300 feet left of the extended runway centerline and about 1,000 feet from the departure and of the runway during an instrument takeoff. The weather at an airport 16 miles away was recorded as 1/4 statute miles visibility with fog and a vertical visibility of 100 feet. A witness reported weather at the accident airport as less than 1/8 mile visibility about 40 minutes after the accident. The pilot had accumulated a total of about 53 hours of instrument time with 9 of those hours in actual instrument conditions. The pilot had received a weather briefing prior to the accident, and had filed an IFR flight plan but did not obtain a departure clearance for the flight. A postaccident examination of the airframe, engine, and instruments revealed no anomalies that could be associated with a preexisting condition.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain proper runway alignment on departure and his failure to maintain clearance from the trees. The pilot's attempted flight into known adverse weather, his lack of instrument experience, the fog, and the trees were contributing factors.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/25/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 717 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | SPARTA |
| Event State | MICHIGAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 49345 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | SPARTA |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 8D4 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 230 |
| Airport Elevation | 761 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 656 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 155 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GRR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 794 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Obscured |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 0.25 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 51 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 51 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| 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 | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10378 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 25 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 740 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 29 2001 10:56AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N98094 |
| NTSB Number | CHI01FA024 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA28-140 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA28-140 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-26040 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2150 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DANIEL R ROSE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1840 FRAIL ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | LIMA |
| Aircraft Owner State | OH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 45806 |
| 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 | 8D4 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 717 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | HEF |
| Destination City | MANASSAS |
| Destination State | VA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 19 2001 4:04AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 24 |
| Runway Length | 3200 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |