Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Allegheny County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
West Mifflin, Pennsylvania 15122
Wednesday, July 31, 2002 20:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that immediately after takeoff, he lost the use of the radios and other electrical equipment. The red landing gear position light remained dimly illuminated, which indicated that the landing gear was neither securely stowed or in the down and locked position. The red alternator-out warning light was also illuminated, and the ammeter registered a discharge. The pilot contacted a 911 dispatcher on his cell phone, reported his landing intentions and proceeded toward the airport. He attempted to manually extend the landing gear with the emergency landing gear extension hand crank located behind his seat, but was unable to engage the hand crank handle. Once at the airport, the pilot flew by the control tower and a controller confirmed that the landing gear were not fully extended. The pilot then flew several traffic pattern circuits before landing on a grassy area next to a runway. Upon touchdown, the airplane continued on a straight path until it collided with a runway marker, veered left, and stopped. Examination of the alternator revealed an open rotor circuit between the F1 and F2 terminals. In addition, alternator disassembly revealed an open rotor between the rotor and slip rings. According to the airplane's pilot operating handbook, an inoperative alternator would have placed the entire electrical system operation of the airplane except engine ignition on the battery, and would have been indicated by the illumination of the ALT OUT warning light and a discharge on the ammeter.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the alternator. A factor was the pilot's inability to manually extend the landing gear.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/31/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 2045 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | WEST MIFFLIN |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 15122 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 402115N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0795548W |
| Event Location Airport | Allegheny County |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | AGC |
| 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 | 1251 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2053 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | AGC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1251 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| 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) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 340 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.98 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 3072 |
| 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) | 13820 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA EROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 31 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2115 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 26 2003 8:17AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | ALLEGHENY FAA/FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3869Z |
| NTSB Number | IAD02LA079 |
| 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 | A-36 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | E-1788 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 27 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 3.6 |
| Airframe Hours | 2398 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DANIEL M. ROONEY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | PITTSBURGH |
| Aircraft Owner State | PA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 15233 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | LBE |
| Departure City | LATROBE |
| Departure State | PA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2010 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | AGC |
| Destination City | WEST MIFFLIN |
| Destination State | PA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 26 2003 6:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COXP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 28 |
| Runway Length | 1500 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |