Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Homerville, Georgia 31634
Thursday, March 27, 2003 1:13 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight was in cruise flight at 27,000 feet when the airplane encountered unforecasted severe turbulence. The pilot made a "mayday" on the airplane radio to Jacksonville Center. Within several seconds the airplane accelerated from 175 knots through 300 knots groundspeed and descended from 27,000 feet to 16,500 feet. The airplane disappeared from radar coverage and was located by Sheriff Department personnel 15 miles north of Homerville, Georgia, in a swampy area. Airframe components recovered from the accident site were submitted to the NTSB Materials laboratory for examination. The examinations revealed all failures were due to overload. Examination of the airframe revealed that the airframe design limits were exceeded. The pilot did not obtain a weather briefing before the flight departed.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An in-flight encounter with unforecasted severe turbulence in cruise flight resulting in the design limits of the airplane being exceeded due to an overload failure of the airframe, and collision with a swampy area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/27/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 113 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Homerville |
| Event State | GEORGIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 31634 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 310620N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0825650W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| 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 | Abbreviated |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 56 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 210 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | VAD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 203 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 15000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 7500 |
| 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) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 10 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.87 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 693 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15961 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Communications Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 27 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 400 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 29 2004 7:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Atlanta FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N53LG |
| NTSB Number | ATL03FA068 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Rockwell |
| Aircraft Model | 690B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 11523 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 10375 |
| 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 | 8 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 4 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 149 |
| Airframe Hours | 6317 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Haulers Insurance Company Inc |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1101 Santa FE Pike |
| Aircraft Owner City | Columbia |
| Aircraft Owner State | TN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 38401 |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MRC |
| Departure City | Mount Pleasant |
| Departure State | TN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2300 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | TIX |
| Destination City | Titusville |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 12 2004 10:09AM |
| User who most recently changed record | POWP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |