Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Berkeley County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Moncks Corner, South Carolina 29461
Tuesady, November 19, 2002 16:55 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight departed Charleston Airport with a private-rated pilot, two passengers, and about 50 gallons of fuel onboard a homebuilt Express airplane. The airplane was flown to Berkeley County Airport where the pilot performed about 6 to 7 touch-and-go landings on runway 05 for about half an hour. The airplane departed the traffic pattern and a witness in a boat on Lake Moultrie located north of the airport reported seeing the airplane flying from Moncks Corner towards Bonneau, and it "sounded like it was running out of gas." The airplane was then observed to pitch nose down and banked to the right completing not more than 2 rotations before impacting the water in a 90-degree nose low attitude. The total flight time was 45 minutes. Examination of the wreckage revealed all damage was impact related. The main fuel selector was found between "off" and "left," and the left secondary fuel selector was positioned to "left main." Testing revealed that fuel flow was possible through the main fuel selector, as found. Test of the engine driven magneto revealed it operated post accident; a discrepancy with the condenser was noted. Part of the electronic ignition system was tested and initially one of the two amplifiers worked post accident, but ceased operating. A bench test of the servo fuel injector indicated that at maximum metering suction (comparable to full throttle and full rich mixture), the flow was 3 pounds-per-hour (pph) below the service limits. Debris was found on the ball-valve and seat of the regulator and in the mixture control housing; the diaphragm appeared new. Examination of the engine revealed no evidence of pre impact failure or malfunction. On July 12, 2002, the engine was overhauled by a certified FAA repair station due to a propeller strike, the airplane had flown about 40 hours prior to the accident. The last conditional inspection was 2.5 months before the accident. Weight and balance calculations revealed the airplane was within the center of gravity limits at the time of departure and at the time of the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain airspeed following a loss of engine power for undetermined reasons, resulting in an inadvertent stall and subsequent uncontrolled descent and in-flight collision with water.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/19/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1655 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Moncks Corner |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29461 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 331554N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0800031W |
| Event Location Airport | BERKELEY COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 50J |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1656 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 191 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KCHS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 45 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 22 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| 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) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.25 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14736 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Comm Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 19 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1812 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 5 2004 4:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | S. Columbia, SC |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N297JH |
| NTSB Number | MIA03LA019 |
| 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 | John H. Heiring |
| Aircraft Model | Express |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 129 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 19 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 30 |
| Airframe Hours | 269.4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Industries Unlimited |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3511 Silverside RD STE 105 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wilmington |
| Aircraft Owner State | SC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19810 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Bobby G. Taylor |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 7031 Kenneth Drive |
| Operator City | Charleston |
| Operator State | SC |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 29406 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 50J |
| Departure City | Moncks Corner |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1653 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CHS |
| Destination City | Charleston |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 19 2003 3:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| 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 | -- |