Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Boundary County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bonners Ferry, Idaho 83805
Monday, April 16, 2001 13:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that his wife had told him she wanted a divorce the day before the accident, and stated: "I believe now I was not prepared to taxi the aircraft, lack of concentration due to stress [sic]." The pilot stated that he applied power, the tail went up, and the aircraft started drifting left. He stated that he then tried to apply right rudder, but "I had left a small cockpit electric heater on [the] floor by [the] rudder pedals, which moved forward [and] locked up [the] rudder pedals." He reported that he was unable to correct the drift and that he then "chopped power" and applied brakes. However, the aircraft went off the left side of the runway, collapsing the right main landing gear and damaging a wing. The pilot indicated on his NTSB accident report that no mechanical malfunction or failure was involved in the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Inadequate preflight inspection/preparation of the aircraft by the pilot and consequent foreign object fouling of the rudder control, rendering directional control impossible. A factor was the pilot's distraction/preoccupation with personal problems.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/16/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1300 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Bonners Ferry |
| Event State | IDAHO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 83805 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Boundary County |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 65S |
| 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 | 2331 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 10 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 10 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.9 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11537 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 16 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1623 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 20 2002 1:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Spokane, WA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N51463 |
| NTSB Number | SEA01LA072 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Maule |
| Aircraft Model | M-4-210C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1117C |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2350 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 1 1992 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 200 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Roger W. Benefiel |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Route 4 Box 623 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Bonners Ferry |
| Aircraft Owner State | ID |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 83805 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | 65S |
| Departure City | Bonners Ferry |
| Departure State | ID |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1300 |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SZT |
| Destination City | Sandpoint |
| Destination State | ID |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 30 2001 6:11PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 20 |
| Runway Length | 4000 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |