Baker City Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Baker City, Oregon 97814
Friday, January 18, 2002 18:15 PDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

While en route on an IFR flight plan, the aircraft encountered ambient conditions that resulted in extensive ice accumulation on the airframe structure. Because the pilot was unable to maintain the required minimum altitude on the next leg of the flight, he elected to divert into a nearby airport. After getting below the overcast clouds, he shot a visual approach on a very dark night while looking through a partially ice-covered windshield. During the attempted landing, the pilot allowed the aircraft to contact the runway at a descent rate high enough to cause permanent structural damage to the aircraft's fuselage, and to permanently force the left main landing gear oleo strut to its fully compressed limit. The force of the impact also caused the tire support rim on the nose wheel to fracture into several pieces that were later recovered from the runway. After the rim separated from the main nose wheel drum, the drum portion of the wheel rolled along inside the tire. As the landing roll continued, the aircraft departed the runway and plowed through an 18 inch-high snow bank created by snow that had be removed from the runway. As the aircraft passed through the snow bank, the nose gear strut down-lock failed, and the nose gear was forced backwards and up into the wheel well. The collapse of the nose gear strut allowed the belly skin just aft of the nose gear well to come in contact with the snow bank, which resulted in the belly skin being pushed inward around the fuselage bulkheads.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot's excessive descent rate at the time the aircraft came in contact with the runway during a night precautionary landing. Factors include extensive airframe ice accumulation, ice accumulation on the flight compartment windshield, ambient conditions conducive to airframe icing, a dark night, and a snow bank along the edge of the runway.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 1/18/2002
Event Day of the Week Friday
Time of Event 1815
Event Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Event City Baker City
Event State OREGON
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 97814
Event Date Year 2002
Event Date Month 1
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude --
Event Location Longitude --
Event Location Airport Baker City Municipal
Event Location Nearest Airport ID BKE
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 3373
Weather Briefing Completeness Full
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 Night/Dark
Lowest Ceiling Height 7000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height --
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions --
Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling Broken
Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) --
Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) --
Visibility (Statute Miles) 5
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) -2
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) --
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) --
Variable Wind Indicator --
Wind Speed (knots) --
Wind Velocity Indicator Calm
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
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 3
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 12380
NTSB Notification Source FAA Operations Center
NTSB Notification Date Jan 18 2002 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1910
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Oct 24 2002 3:20PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\MONR
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Boise FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N1187G
NTSB Number SEA02LA034
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed IFR
Flight plan Was Activated? Yes
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Rockwell
Aircraft Model 500-S
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 3180
Certified Max Gross Weight 6750
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 6
Number of Engines 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Apr 12 2001 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 78
Airframe Hours 3498
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name CXA Financial, Inc.
Aircraft Owner Street Address 1302 26th Ave NW
Aircraft Owner City Gig Harbor
Aircraft Owner State WA
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 98335
Operator is an individual? No
Operator Name Richard W. Boehlke
Operator Same as Owner? No
Operator Is Doing Business As --
Operator Address Same as Owner? No
Operator Street Address On File
Operator City Gig Harbor
Operator State WA
Operator Country USA
Operator Zip code 98335
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 TIW
Departure City Tacoma
Departure State WA
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1610
Departure Time Zone PST
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code SUN
Destination City Hailey
Destination State ID
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Landing - flare/touchdown
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Jul 15 2002 12:27PM
User who most recently changed record STAM
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 30
Runway Length 5095
Runway Width 100
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --