Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Thornton Peak American Samoa
Tuesady, April 10, 2001
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On April 10, 2001, an Aero Commander 500S, Australian registration VH-UJB, registered to General Aviation Maintenance of Essendon Airport, Victoria, Australia, collided with Thornton Peak, north of Mossman, Queensland, Australia. The pilot and three passengers were fatally injured in the accident. The level of damage sustained by the aircraft has not been reported to the NTSB. The flight's origin point has not been reported to the NTSB; the flight's destination, according to a local news account obtained via the Internet, was Hicks Island, east of Cape Grenville, Queensland, Australia (some 300 miles north-northwest of the accident site.) According to initial accident notification information received by the NTSB, the flight, which was conducted subject to Australian civil aviation regulations, was operating under instrument flight rules in restricted visibility conditions at the time of the accident.
The investigation of this accident is under the jurisdiction of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). Further inquiries regarding this accident should be directed to:
Australian Transport Safety Bureau
PO Box 967
Civic Square ACT 2608, Australia
Telephone: (61) 2 6274 6590
Fax: (61) 2 6274 6474
E-Mail: atsbinfo@atsb.gov.au
WWW: http://www.atsb.gov.au
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/10/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | -- |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Thornton Peak |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | AMERICAN SAMOA |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 160900S |
| Event Location Longitude | 1452200E |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | Foreign |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | Twin Commander Aircraft Corp. |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 11 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1420 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 22 2001 7:30PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Basic weather conditions | -- |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | -- |
| NTSB Number | SEA01WA097 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Unknown |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Unknown |
| Aircraft Fire | -- |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aero Commander |
| Aircraft Model | 500S |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | -- |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 6750 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | -- |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | -- |
| Operator Street Address | S R Nott Hangar 1 Wirraway Rd |
| Operator City | Essendon Airport, Vic |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | AS |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Unknown |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | -- |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Hicks Island |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | AS |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 28 2001 5:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |