Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Covington Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Covington, Tennessee 38019
Tuesady, July 2, 2002 13:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot said that he only had about 0.2 hours total flight experience in the accident airplane and during the first flight, the engine surged so he returned to the airport and executed an uneventful landing. After landing, he said he operated the airplane on the ground, trying to determine the cause of the engine surges and was unable to duplicate the problems so he again flew the airplane to see if the surges would reoccur. During the climbout, when the airplane reached 3,700 feet, while in a left turn, "crossing the numbers for runway 01", the pilot said the engine began to surge again, and the engine rpms dropped to 1,600, and any subsequent attempts to control engine power were unsuccessful. He said he extended the downwind in order to dissipate altitude for a forced landing, but he descended below some wires which stretched across his flight path to the airport, so he executed a forced landing to a road short of the runway instead. During the landing the airplane's winglet caught some corn stalks on the side of the road, and the airplane spun around, coming to rest inverted in a corn field, incurring substantial damage. An FAA inspector stated that he and an FAA designated Airworthiness representative examined the accident airplane, and no evidence of mechanical failure or malfunctions were found with any of the airplane systems. The inspector also stated that the designated airworthiness representative told him that he had been present when the pilot was getting ready to take off, and that the fuel selector had been left on the 3-gallon capacity header tank position, and after the accident, while assisting in extricating the pilot from the overturned airplane, the designated representative stated to him that he found the fuel selector still set to the header tank position.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper planned approach following loss of engine power due to fuel starvation resulting in damage to the airplane during an off-airport landing. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's lack of familiarity with the accident airplane.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/2/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Covington |
| Event State | TENNESSEE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 38019 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 353500N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0893523W |
| Event Location Airport | Covington Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | M04 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 280 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1353 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KMKL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 434 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 50 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 33 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.12 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2000 |
| 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) | 12478 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ATL Comm. Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 2 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2002 3:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Memphis |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N57EZ |
| NTSB Number | MIA02LA124 |
| 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 | Mckean |
| Aircraft Model | Varieze |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 75 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1050 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 1 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0.2 |
| Airframe Hours | 1959 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Ian L. Stone |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1603 E. Gonzalez St |
| Aircraft Owner City | Pensacola |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 32501 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | M04 |
| Departure City | Covington |
| Departure State | TN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | M04 |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 22 2002 10:52AM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |