Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Conroe, Texas 77301
Friday, August 10, 2001 13:15 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was performing aerobatic maneuvers when the airplane's right rudder cable separated. He flew the airplane to an open field, and while at 4,300 feet msl, exited the airplane. Once clear of the airplane, he deployed his parachute. He stated that he observed the airplane enter a descent, and subsequently, impact trees. The pilot landed on a dirt road without further incident. There were no reported ground injuries. Review of photographs taken at the accident site revealed that the rudder control cables displayed extensive corrosion. In addition to the total separation of the right rudder cable as a result of corrosion, other segments of the cable displayed separation of some cable strands. Review of the aircraft's maintenance records revealed that the aircraft underwent its last condition inspection on May 12, 2001, at an aircraft total time of 540.96 hours. The condition inspection was the last entry in the aircraft logbook and it read in part, "inspected and lubed control and cables." At the time of the accident, the airplane had accumulated approximately 18 hours since the last condition inspection.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the mechanic's inadequate inspection which resulted in the undetected corroded rudder cable and its subsequent failure during aerobatic maneuvers.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/10/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1315 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Conroe |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 77301 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| 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 | 3900 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 36 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 12 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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) | 11492 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 10 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2150 |
| 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 | Houston, Texas |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6614R |
| NTSB Number | FTW01LA181 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Zacharius |
| Aircraft Model | Acroduster I |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 001 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 12 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 17 |
| Airframe Hours | 558.3 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Troy Anthony Armand |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 15634 Hogenville Avenue |
| Aircraft Owner City | Baton Rouge |
| Aircraft Owner State | LA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 70817 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CXO |
| Departure City | Conroe |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - uncontrolled |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 28 2002 5:50PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MORJU |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |