Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lummi Island, Washington 98262
Monday, October 9, 2000 9:51 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
With a reported ceiling of 500 feet and visibility of 2 miles, the pilot requested and received a Special Visual Flight Rules (VFR) clearance to depart the Bellingham airport. He then took off and called clear of Bellingham's Class D airspace. A witness reported seeing the aircraft flying very low over water near the accident site, appearing to go in and out of clouds, and subsequently seeing it turn toward rising wooded terrain and disappear into the clouds. The aircraft crashed shortly thereafter. Witnesses reported very low ceilings and fog in the accident area at the time. Pieces of the aircraft's left wing and left horizontal stabilizer, along with a felled treetop, were found between the location of the witness's sighting and the main crash site, on or near the crest of a hill about 1/4 mile from the main crash site. These pieces exhibited leading-edge and primary structure damage, and leading-edge-embedded plant material, consistent with the pieces separating from the aircraft upon contact with trees. Wreckage and impact signatures at the main crash site were indicative of an uncontrolled impact with the ground. Investigators found no evidence of any aircraft malfunctions or cargo anomalies occurring prior to the apparent tree strikes.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's attempted flight into known adverse weather conditions, and his subsequent failure to maintain altitude above, or clearance with, trees. Factors contributing to the accident included low ceilings, fog, the pilot's low-altitude flight, rising terrain, and trees.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/9/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 951 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | LUMMI ISLAND |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98262 |
| 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 | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 953 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 40 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BLI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 170 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 2 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 54 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 54 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10519 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 9 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1025 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 19 2001 10:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N941FE |
| NTSB Number | SEA01FA001 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 208B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 208B |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 208B0192 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 8750 |
| 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 | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 14 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 34 |
| Airframe Hours | 3526 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FEDERAL EXPRESS CORP. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3101 TCHULAHOMA |
| Aircraft Owner City | MEMPHIS |
| Aircraft Owner State | TN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 38132 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | EMPIRE AIRLINES INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2115 GOVERNMENT WAY |
| Operator City | COEUR D'ALENE |
| Operator State | ID |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 83814 |
| Operator Code | COEA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | BLI |
| Departure City | BELLINGHAM |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 943 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ORS |
| Destination City | EASTSOUND |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 25 2001 4:00AM |
| 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 | -- |