Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Residential Farm Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Olar, South Carolina 29843
Friday, May 17, 2002 16:31 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Witnesses who observed the accident stated that the airplane was descending in a nose down attitude. The airplane impacted the field nose down, and came to rest partially inverted. The cockpit and all instrumentation were destroyed by the impact. Control continuity was established on all flight control surfaces. Examination of the elevator controls revealed that the push-pull control rod bolt for the elevator control was missing at the attachment point on the elevator control assembly. There was no distortion of the control rod hole, or the attachment hole. Also it was noted that there were no castellated nuts installed on four of the bolts which attach the main support brackets of the flight control assembly, and no cotter key was installed on the castellated nut for the left aileron control cable in the same area. According to the owner, the last annual inspection was done on August 1, 2001. Maintenance records were not recovered for examination.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The in-flight separation of the elevator push-pull control tube that resulted in a loss of flight control and subsequent collision with the ground.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/17/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1631 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Olar |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29843 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 331311N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0811258W |
| Event Location Airport | Residential Farm Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PVT |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 227 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 225 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | OGB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 194 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 31 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.89 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2131 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16214 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Faa Com Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 17 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1740 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 29 2004 1:02PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Columbia FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N71344 |
| NTSB Number | ATL02FA101 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Luscombe |
| Aircraft Model | LL-8-E |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2771 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1058 |
| 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 | Aug 1 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 29 |
| Airframe Hours | 781 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Don and Carl Heatwole |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Rural Route 2, P.O. Box 224-C |
| Aircraft Owner City | Denmark |
| Aircraft Owner State | SC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 29042 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Gideon P. Heatwole |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 3303 Thunder Road |
| Operator City | Olar |
| Operator State | SC |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 29843 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | PVT |
| Departure City | Olar |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1600 |
| Departure Time Zone | SY |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | PVT |
| Destination City | Olar |
| Destination State | SC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 3 2004 1:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | POWP |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |