Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Newport State Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Middletown, Rhode Island 02842
Saturday, April 28, 2001 9:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After departure, the pilot contacted air traffic control and stated, "I've got a bit of a problem here on takeoff I'm gonna have to go back and close a cowl flap." A witness observed the airplane flying low and slow, about 200 feet above the ground, on a tight downwind leg for the runway. When the airplane turned onto the base leg, it was about 100 feet above the ground, "still flying very slow on the verge of a stall." The airplane then nosed over, "picked up airspeed," and turned sharply to the left at an angle of about 70 degrees. As the airplane passed the extended centerline of the runway, it leveled off and full power was applied to the engine. The airplane then descended, and impacted buckets of rope dip, which was a black waterbased protective coating for rope, and barrels of nautical lines, before coming to rest upright against metal lobster traps located in a field. Examination of the wreckage revealed that the upper left hand side cowling was observed opened and undamaged. Examination of the latching mechanism for the left hand side cowling revealed no damage to the forward latch. The rear latch exhibited damage to one half of the clamshell. Rope dip was observed on the upper half of the left hand cowling cover, the left hand side of the engine crankcase, and on the rearward section of the left hand side bottom cowling. No rope dip was observed on the right hand side engine cowling or crankcase. The pilot had flown with a flight instructor 5 days prior to the accident. During that flight, the flight instructor observed that the left side engine cowl cover "became loose and opened all the way," while the airplane was on the ground. The pilot remarked to the flight instructor that he thought he had secured it. He then shut the engine down, and re-secured the cowl cover. While the airplane was in maintenance the day prior to the accident, the pilot mentioned to a mechanic that he had been having problems with the left engine cowling cover; however, the mechanic did not observe any abnormalities with the cover. The recorded winds about the time of the accident were from 360 degrees at 12 knots, gusting to 21 knots.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed while landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/28/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Middletown |
| Event State | RHODE ISLAND |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 02842 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 413125N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0711659W |
| Event Location Airport | Newport State Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | UUU |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 200 |
| Airport Elevation | 172 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 953 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | UUU |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 172 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 21 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.12 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13199 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA EROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 28 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1030 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 18 2003 4:34PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FSDO-01 Bedford, MA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N55588 |
| NTSB Number | NYC01FA109 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | A-36 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | E-2518 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3663 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 21 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 93 |
| Airframe Hours | 1573 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robert V. Kahle |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Newport |
| Aircraft Owner State | RI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 02840 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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 | UUU |
| Departure City | Middletown |
| Departure State | RI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 928 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | FDK |
| Destination City | Frederick |
| Destination State | MD |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 1 2002 3:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 04 |
| Runway Length | 2999 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |