Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Hickory Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Conover, North Carolina 28613
Wednesday, August 28, 1985 1:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
ACFT WAS ON TRNG FLT FOR INITIAL COPILOT QUAL FOR COMMUTER AIR CARRIER. INSTRUCTOR AND TWO TRAINEES WERE ON BOARD. THE ACFT DEPARTED CHARLOTTE AT ABOUT 2314EDT FOR THE HICKORYAREA FOR TRNG. AT ABOUT 0015EDT,IT WAS REPORTED THAT THE CREW VISITED THE HICKORY FSS. AFTER DEPARTING HICKORY, THE ACFT CLIMBED TO 5500 FT AND REMAINED GENERALLY BETWEEN CHARLOTTE. AT ABOUT 0145EDT, RADAR DATA SHOWED THE ACFT TO BE IN A STEEPNING DESCENT AN GAINING SPEED. THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH TREE LIMBS, A UTILITY POLE AND THE GROUND IN ABOUT 35 ANGLE OF DESCENT IN A RESIDENTIAL AREA OF CONOVER NC. INVESTIGATION REVEALED A NOSE UP TRIM,WHICH WAS APRX 75 PERCENT OF THE AVAILABLE UP-TRIM(3.38 DEGREES UP- NOSE. THIS IS AN ABNORMAL SETTING;SO THE ENTIRE TRIM UNIT WAS RETAINED & SENT TO THE TALLEY CORP FOR DETAILED EXAM. THE RAM END FITTINGS WERE SENT TO GA TECH RESEARCH FOR SURFACE FRACTURE ANALYSIS. THE EXAM SHOWED DUCTILE OVERSTRESS & NO INDICATION OF PRE-CRACKED CONDITION. PITCH TRIM EMERGENCIES ARE A PART OF SUNBIRDS C-99 TRAINING PROGRAM(FIT 1 & 2)
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/28/1985 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 145 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | CONOVER |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 28613 |
| Event Date Year | 1985 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | HICKORY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | HKY |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 20 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 107 |
| Airport Elevation | 0 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 150 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HKY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1189 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1500 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 2056 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 28 1985 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 330 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 29449 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 9:15AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N992SB |
| NTSB Number | ATL85FA261 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | C-99 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | C-99 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | U-170 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 11300 |
| 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 | 17 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 21 1985 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 35 |
| Airframe Hours | 7651 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BEECH ACCEPTANCE CORP., INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 85 |
| Aircraft Owner City | WICHITA |
| Aircraft Owner State | KS |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 67201 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | SUNBIRD AIRLINE,INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 4651 CHARLOTTE PARK DR. |
| Operator City | CHARLOTTE |
| Operator State | NC |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 28210 |
| Operator Code | SABA |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | HKY |
| Departure City | HICKORY |
| Departure State | NC |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 54 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | CLT |
| Destination City | CHARLOTTE |
| Destination State | NC |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | 0 |
| Runway Width | 0 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |