Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Nut Tree Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Vacaville, California 95688
Saturday, March 30, 2002 15:37 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane nosed over after veering off the runway during landing. The pilot said the airplane is a conversion to the PA-22/20 conventional landing gear arrangement. He had just picked up the airplane after having it in the shop for the last couple of months for repair. He was landing on runway 20 with winds he described as from 100 degrees at 6 knots. After touchdown, he experienced directional control problems with the airplane first veering left and then right, and finally departing off the right side of the runway. The airplane was traveling at a slow speed and he applied both brakes to stop. The airplane then nosed over very slowly, damaging the vertical stabilizer. He stated there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane. The pilot reported that his total time was 140 hours, with about 60 in the accident aircraft. Prior to departing from Medford, he obtained some dual instruction to review landing techniques in conventional gear airplanes. The official Vacaville aviation METAR at both 1453 and 1553 was reporting variable wind conditions at 3 to 4 knots.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain directional control.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/30/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1537 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Vacaville |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95688 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 382236N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1225745W |
| Event Location Airport | Nut Tree |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | VCB |
| 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 | 114 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1553 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | VCB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 114 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1100 |
| 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) | 14309 |
| NTSB Notification Source | |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 2 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1430 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 25 2003 11:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO-Sacramento, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8158D |
| NTSB Number | LAX02LA122 |
| 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-22-160 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 22-5649 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2000 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 3 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5 |
| Airframe Hours | 1611 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Gordon R. Erhart |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Vacaville |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95688 |
| 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 | OR96 |
| Departure City | MEDFORD |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1325 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | VCB |
| Destination City | Vacaville |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 18 2003 6:19PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 20 |
| Runway Length | 3800 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |