Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Bamberg County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bamberg, South Carolina 29003
Saturday, July 21, 2001 9:15 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot had flown the airplane in to have maintenance performed at the airport, on June 12, 2001, and returned to pick up the airplane on the morning of July 21, 2001. There was no one at the airport that could say they observed the pilot perform a pre-flight inspection before he got into the airplane. He departed about 2 minutes after paying his bill. Witnesses heard a rough running engine, and observed the airplane reach an altitude of 200-300 feet above ground level, clear wires at the departure end of the runway, turn to the left with the left wing almost perpendicular to the ground, the nose went down, the airplane impacted into a cotton field and burst into flames. A witness said, "it stalled and came straight down." Examination of the engine did not disclose evidence of mechanical malfunction. Toxicology test showed that the following drugs were found in the pilot's blood, liver, and kidney: Propoxyphene, Norpropoxyphene, Fluoxetine, and Norfluoxetine. Medical records revealed that the pilot was taking prescribed medication for "frequent or severe headaches." It is likely that the pilot was impaired at the time of the accident by the effects of propoxyphene, and possibly by the effects of narcotic dependence.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the failure of the pilot to maintain airspeed, while attempting a forced landing following a loss of engine power for undetermined reasons, which resulted in an inadvertent stall/spin, and subsequent impact with the terrain. A factor in this accident was impairment due to drugs/medication.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/21/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 915 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Bamberg |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29003 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 331818N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0810632W |
| Event Location Airport | BAMBERG COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 99N |
| 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 | 35 |
| Airport Elevation | 199 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 900 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 30 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | OGB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 199 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| 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) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 70 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1122 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13840 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COM CNR ATL |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 21 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 945 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 26 2003 8:17AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Columbia SC FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5058S |
| NTSB Number | MIA01FA192 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | BE-35-F35 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | D-4367 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2750 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 12 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0.1 |
| Airframe Hours | 3221.88 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | E. Carew Rice |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1001 Craven St. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Beaufort |
| Aircraft Owner State | SC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 29902 |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 99N |
| Departure City | Bamberg |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 915 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 73J |
| Destination City | Beaufort |
| Destination State | SC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - uncontrolled |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 11 2003 1:17PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 05 |
| Runway Length | 3600 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |