Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Frasca Airfield Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Urbana, Illinois 61801
Sunday, February 9, 2003 14:00 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left stabilator spar while performing a steep turn maneuver. The pilot stated his airspeed was about 120 miles per hour when entering the maneuver and he did not recall his airspeed increasing any more than five knots during the maneuver. The pilot indicated that as he was performing the left steep turn he began to lose altitude and increased elevator pressure to correct for the altitude loss. He reported that on recovery the control yoke began to vibrate and the rudder pedals began to "advance back and forth rapidly." The pilot stated he released the backpressure on the controls and landed without incident. Review of the airplane's logbooks showed that both ruddervators had been recently reskinned, painted, and balanced. An examination of the airplane revealed the ruddervator trim tabs had been installed upside down and that the trim tab wire had been threaded improperly. The ruddervators were balanced and the left ruddervator was determined to be 19.86 inch pounds underbalance, with the allowed underbalance moment range being 16.80 to 19.80 inch pounds. The on-site inspection revealed a crack in the left stabillator spar. The fracture initiated at the top of the spar that attaches to the bulkhead, migrated through the top outboard bolt hole, and progressed to the bottom outboard bolt hole.The metallurgical examination revealed that the fracture of the main spar of the left stabilator was representative of a tension overload along the full length of the fracture zone.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The partial failure of the left stabilizer in overload.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/9/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1400 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | Urbana |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 61801 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Frasca Airfield |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | C16 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 10 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 225 |
| Airport Elevation | 735 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1353 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 210 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CMI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 754 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 9000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| 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) | -3 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| 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) | 30.05 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -1369 |
| 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) | 15079 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 10 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1104 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 30 2004 8:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-Springfield FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4668D |
| NTSB Number | CHI03LA067 |
| 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 | BE-G35 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | D-4858 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 1 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 25 |
| Airframe Hours | 6000 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Antwuan Neeley |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2715 Heritage Dr. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Champaign |
| Aircraft Owner State | IL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 61822 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | C16 |
| Departure City | Urbana |
| Departure State | IL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 10 2004 8:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 27 |
| Runway Length | 4001 |
| Runway Width | 55 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |