Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Petaluma Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Petaluma, California 94952
Thursday, April 18, 2002 19:10 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the instructional flight, the airplane collided with the ground and collapsed the landing gear during a practice single engine go-around. The flight instructor stated that he had the student do a practice single engine VOR approach to the airport in VFR conditions. The right engine was set to zero thrust for the procedure and the winds were straight down runway 29. They overflew the runway during the approach and circled to enter right traffic. During the approach he had decided to have the student do a single engine go-around. He stated that in hindsight he issued the go-around command at too low an altitude. The airspeed was above Vmc during the go-around; however, due to the low altitude at maneuver initiation, the airplane inadvertently touched down with full power on the left engine, causing the airplane to begin veering to the right. It became airborne again in a nose high, yawing, and right rolling attitude. At this point, he assumed the controls and reduced the power on the left engine. The airplane then settled to the ground in the nose high, yawed, and banked attitude with the right main gear off the pavement. The right main gear and nose gear collapsed. The instructor said that after thinking about the event, he believes that neither he nor the student were making aggressive enough control inputs to correct the situation in the early stages, and he may have waited too long before assuming control. He stated that there were no mechanical malfunctions or system failures with the airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight instructor's decision to execute a simulated single engine go-around at an altitude insufficient to preclude the inadvertent ground contact of the airplane and the resultant loss of directional control. The flight instructor's delayed remedial action and inadequate supervision of the flight are also causal.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/18/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1910 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Petaluma |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94952 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Petaluma Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | O69 |
| 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 | 87 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1953 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 310 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSTS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 125 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| 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) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.17 |
| 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) | 14317 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 18 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2214 |
| 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-Oakland, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6636J |
| NTSB Number | LAX02LA139 |
| 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 | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | 76 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | ME-255 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3900 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 20 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 35 |
| Airframe Hours | 4056 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Christiansen Aviation, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 22 Carpenter Plaza, Suite 462 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wilmington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19810 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Sierra Academy of Aeronautics |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 9465 Earhart Road |
| Operator City | Oakland |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 94614 |
| Operator Code | SRJS |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KOAK |
| Departure City | Oakland |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1840 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | O69 |
| Destination City | PETALUMA |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Go-around (VFR) |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 18 2003 6:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 29 |
| Runway Length | 3600 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |