Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Chattanooga Sky Harbor Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Grandfield, Oklahoma 73546
Saturday, February 1, 2003 13:00 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During a test flight on the morning of the accident, the engine was running rough; however, the pilot landed the airplane without further incident. The pilot removed the carburetor screen, cleaned the debris from the screen, and reinstalled the screen. During the accident flight, the oil and water temperature indicated 205-210 degrees, and the flight was returning to the airport. At an airspeed of 70 knots and an altitude of 500 feet agl, there was a total loss of engine power. The pilot performed the emergency landing procedures; however, he was not able to turn the airplane into the wind due to an unsafe landing area east of the airport traffic pattern for the runway. The pilot landed the airplane with a right quartering tailwind (25 knots, gusts 30 knots) in a field. During the landing roll, the nose landing gear struck a berm, the nose landing gear collapsed, and the airplane structure twisted as the airplane came to rest. The reason for the loss of engine power was not determined. The pilot reported the winds were from the southwest at 25 knots with gust to 30 knots. The airplane had accumulated 27.6 hours of the required 40 hours of flight time under the operating limitations for the homebuilt airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of engine power for an undetermined reason. Contributing factors were the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing and the unfavorable wind.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/1/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1300 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Grandfield |
| Event State | OKLAHOMA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 73546 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 341416N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0984431W |
| Event Location Airport | Chattanooga Sky Harbor |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 92F |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 90 |
| Airport Elevation | 1135 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 325 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 25 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 30 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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) | 13349 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 1 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1645 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 13 2003 12:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N474BG |
| NTSB Number | FTW03LA091 |
| 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 | Gilbertson |
| Aircraft Model | Zodiac CH601HDS |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 63628 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1200 |
| 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 | Aug 31 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 31 |
| Airframe Hours | 28 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Keith G. Gilbertson |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 924 Tejas Drive |
| Aircraft Owner City | Burkburnett |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 76354 |
| 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) | Flight Test |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 92F |
| Departure City | Chattanooga |
| Departure State | OK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1240 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 92F |
| Destination City | Chattanooga |
| Destination State | OK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 26 2003 4:41PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 17 |
| Runway Length | 3400 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |