Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Terrell Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Terrell, Texas 75160
Friday, March 22, 2002 15:30 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the tailwheel endorsement flight, the private pilot was performing a short field landing to the runway when tree branches hit the fuselage, and the right wing struck the trees. Subsequently, the airplane slowed, nosed down, and turned right. The flight instructor recalled applying left aileron and left rudder with little or no effect, and the airplane hit the ground. The flight instructor believed that the airplane encountered a sink rate which he did not detect. He further stated that "the deterioring flight path went undetected" by him since he thought the airplane had cleared the area of the trees, which caused him to "under utilize visual clues more to the sides of the approach path." The pilot reported the wind was from the north-northwest at 5-15 mph and "bumpy."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the inadequate supervision by the flight instructor resulting in the dual student's failure to maintain the proper glidepath during the short field approach. A contributing factor was the downdraft.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/22/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1530 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Terrell |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 75160 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 324236N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0961603W |
| Event Location Airport | Terrell Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TRL |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.11 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 180 |
| Airport Elevation | 474 |
| 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 | -- |
| 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) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 15 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12851 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA FDSO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 22 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 | Apr 15 2003 4:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Dallas, Texas |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3687M |
| NTSB Number | FTW02LA100 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-12 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 12-2535 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1750 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 3 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 62 |
| Airframe Hours | 1590 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | George E. Toombs Jr. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 680 VZPR 7005 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Edgewood |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75117 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | TRL |
| Departure City | Terrell |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1430 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| 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 | Approach - VFR pattern - final approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 19 2002 6:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 35 |
| Runway Length | 4000 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |