Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
St. George Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
St. George, Utah 84771
Friday, April 27, 2001 17:22 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot departed on runway 16, which is located on a narrow mesa (the surrounding terrain is 300 to 350 feet below). He said that immediately after takeoff, he experienced a loss of power on the right engine. The pilot feathered the propeller on the left engine and performed a forced landing. He had raised the landing gear with runway left to land on. The FAA Advisory Circular 61-21A, Flight Training Handbook states that the landing gear should not be raised until a safe landing can no longer be made on the remaining portion of the runway. Postaccident examination of both engines revealed no mechanical anomalies which might have affected their performance. Recovery personnel reported that both propellers were "dramatically" bent in the opposite direction of rotation. Additionally they found that the right wing root fuel sump valve was installed improperly, and was impossible to sump. When they removed the valve, they found that the fuel sample was approximately 25% water. The wind, at the time of the attempted takeoff, was 130 degrees at 21 gusting to 31 knots. The direct crosswind was calculated to be 16 knots, which was within the airplane's demonstrated crosswind limit of 20 knots.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to sump all the fuel drains during preflight and the subsequent loss of power in the right engine during takeoff, the pilot feathering the wrong engine's propeller during the forced landing, the pilot improperly raising the landing gear with usable runway in front of him, and lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing. Contributing factors were the water in the fuel, the terrain induced turbulent cross wind condition, and the mountainous/hilly terrain for the forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/27/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1722 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | St. George |
| Event State | UTAH |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 84771 |
| 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 | St. George Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SGU |
| 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 | 2941 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1735 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SGU |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2941 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 21 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 30 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.92 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 5056 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12586 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 27 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1725 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 16 2003 4:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Salt Lake City, UT |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N27367 |
| NTSB Number | DEN01LA093 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-31-350 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 31-7852007 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 7268 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 13 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 31 |
| Airframe Hours | 9236.5 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | American Aviation, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 337 N. 2370 W. Ste. 231 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Salt Lake City |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84116 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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 | EEJA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SGU |
| Departure City | St. George |
| Departure State | UT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1722 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SLC |
| Destination City | Salt Lake City |
| Destination State | UT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 7 2002 12:56PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 100 |
| Runway Width | 6606 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |