Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
St. Clair County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Pell City, Alabama 35125
Saturday, March 23, 2002 17:22 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On the fourth parachute drop flight of the day for the pilot and aircraft, the pilot detected a reduction in elevator control authority on takeoff. He elected to continue the takeoff and climbed to 3,500 feet agl, where he released the two parachutists. On return to the airport, he used power to control his flare, but landed hard and began a porpoise maneuver. On the third touchdown, the nose gear collapsed and the aircraft ran off the left side of the runway, sustaining substantial damage. Post accident inspection of the flight control system by FAA inspectors revealed no flight control interference, malfunction, or damage.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to properly recover from a bounced landing resulting in exceedance of the design limits and collapse of the nose gear assembly. A factor in the accident was the pilot's decision to continue flight with a known equipment deficiency.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/23/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1722 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Pell City |
| Event State | ALABAMA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 35125 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 333332N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0861458W |
| Event Location Airport | St. Clair County |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PLR |
| 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 | 485 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1753 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BHM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 644 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 24 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| 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) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.16 |
| 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) | 12201 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC Atlanta |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 23 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1923 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 28 2002 10:10AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Birmingham |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3486U |
| NTSB Number | MIA02LA069 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 182F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18254886 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2800 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 2 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 10 |
| Airframe Hours | 5578 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Alabama Skydiving Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 250 Pine Hill Rd. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Pell City |
| Aircraft Owner State | AL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 35125 |
| 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) | Other Work Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | PLR |
| Departure City | Pell City |
| Departure State | AL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1712 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | PLR |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 1 2002 3:37PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 20 |
| Runway Length | 5002 |
| Runway Width | 80 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |