Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Somerset County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Somerset, Pennsylvania 15541
Monday, October 7, 2002 14:40 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor and the commercial pilot/owner had traveled to Maryland to inspect and pick-up the newly purchased airplane, and fly it back to Michigan. The commercial pilot was not current in the airplane and asked the flight instructor to accompany him and provide flight instruction while en route. As part of the pre-sale agreement, the seller hired a certificated airframe and power plant mechanic to perform an airworthiness inspection of the airplane, which included a compression check and fabric test. The mechanic endorsed the airplane's logbook for Day-VFR flight only. The day before the accident, the flight instructor flew the airplane, and afterwards, queried the seller about its slow climb rate. The seller told the flight instructor that the airplane, "was not a great performer", and a normal climb airspeed was between 60-70 miles per hour (mph), and between 95-100 mph during cruise flight. The flight instructor and pilot departed, and flew to their first intended fueling stop. During the flight, the indicated cruise airspeed was lower than expected. After landing, the airplane was filled with fuel, and prepared for the next leg of the flight. After take-off, the airplane would not climb, and only got to about 200 feet agl before it started to descend. The flight instructor took the control of the airplane and turned it to the left and right to avoid obstacles; however, the airplane struck 40-foot power lines and fell to the ground. Examination of the engine revealed low compression on the #3 cylinder, and no compression on the #5 cylinder. The air filter was found clogged with debris, and when the throttle was placed in the full forward position, the carburetor butterfly valve only opened about 1/3 of the way.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The mechanic's failure to discover several mechanical deficiencies during a pre-buy inspection, which either independently or collectively resulted in a subsequent engine failure. A factor was the power lines in the forced landing area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/7/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1440 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | SOMERSET |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 15541 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 400233N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0790047W |
| Event Location Airport | Somerset County Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 2G9 |
| 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 | 240 |
| Airport Elevation | 2272 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1454 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 30 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | JST |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2284 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 19 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4200 |
| 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) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 17 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.08 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2401 |
| 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) | 13829 |
| NTSB Notification Source | EASTERN REG OPS CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 7 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1650 |
| 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 | N6652N |
| NTSB Number | IAD03LA002 |
| 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 | Taylorcraft |
| Aircraft Model | 15A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 5-14019 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2200 |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 3 |
| Airframe Hours | 1075 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JAMES EDWARD MURPHY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | SANFORD |
| Aircraft Owner State | MI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 48657 |
| 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) | Ferry |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 2G9 |
| Departure City | Somerset |
| Departure State | PA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1438 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 3BS |
| Destination City | Midland |
| Destination State | MI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 16 2003 11:07AM |
| User who most recently changed record | COXP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 24 |
| Runway Length | 4697 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |