Columbia Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Columbia, California 95310
Sunday, June 9, 2002 14:15 PDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The plane encountered a wind disturbance resulting in a ground loop and the airplane coming to rest inverted. While on the landing roll the gust caught the left wing and tail, lifting it off the ground. The tail continued to lift until the prop struck the ground, and flipped the airplane over. The pilot stated the AWOS reported the winds to be 290 at 8 knots gusting to 15 knots. The airport has two runways, and are on a magnetic heading of 170-350 and 110-290. Runway 11-29 is 2,600 feet long and 100 feet wide, and is turf.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot encountered a crosswind gust during the landing roll, resulting in a ground loop and nose over.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 6/9/2002
Event Day of the Week Sunday
Time of Event 1415
Event Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Event City Columbia
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 95310
Event Date Year 2002
Event Date Month 6
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude --
Event Location Longitude --
Event Location Airport Columbia
Event Location Nearest Airport ID O22
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 --
Weather Briefing Completeness Unknown
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1453 Pacific Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 210
Weather Observation Facility ID MOD
Elevation of weather observation facility 97
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 35
Time Zone of the weather observation PDT
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) -1
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 310
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 20
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Not Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.83
Density Altitude (feet) 4123
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 2
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 14321
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Jun 11 2002 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1315
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-FAT-FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N2228C
NTSB Number LAX02LA193
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 180
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 30528
Certified Max Gross Weight 2550
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 Oct 9 2001 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 15.4
Airframe Hours 1504.4
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Tierney W. Smith
Aircraft Owner Street Address On File
Aircraft Owner City Los Altos Hills
Aircraft Owner State CA
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 94024
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 PAO
Departure City Palo Alto
Departure State CA
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1330
Departure Time Zone PDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code KO22
Destination City Columbia
Destination State CA
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Landing - roll
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Aug 18 2003 6:14PM
User who most recently changed record COOS
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 35
Runway Length 4670
Runway Width 75
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --