Palwaukee Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Wheeling, Illinois 60090
Thursday, April 17, 2003 5:51 CDT

The flying club operated rental airplane was on short final approach to the destination airport when it impacted a 25-foot high unlighted utility pole 750 feet from the landing threshold. The left seat pilot's business flight was to pick up two passengers and then proceed to another destination. The electrical lines spanning the utility poles were equipped with red and white balls with reflective tape. Civil twilight with visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The power line poles were not equipped with obstruction lights, but the lower traffic light poles had obstruction lights. The presence of poles was cited in the Airport Facility Directory, a publication to be used by pilots in flight planning. The landing runway was the shortest and narrowest of the runways at the airport. The Instrument Flying Handbook states this can create an illusion that the aircraft is at a higher altitude than it actually is, especially when runway length-to-width relationships are comparable. The airplane was piloted by a club member/instructor seated in the left seat with the club's president in the right seat who was a rated pilot and certified flight instructor. The left seat pilot was reported by both to be the flying pilot with the club's president working the radios and performing non-flying pilot duties as he did on previous flights. The right seat pilot stated that during the approach, the radar altimeter indicated an altitude of 200 feet above ground level two miles from the landing runway. At that time the right seat pilot reportedly pulled on the yoke and said no lower until we are at the "fence." A few seconds later after the right seat pilot released the controls, he felt a "bump." During an interview, the left seat pilot said that he had not been checked out in the incident airplane and could not cite what requirements for such a checkout would be. He had a total flight time of 9 hours in the incident airplane at the time of the incident. He initially stated that the club's president was serving as a "flight instructor, safety pilot, or whatever." The club's president reported a total flight time of 193 hours in the incident airplane. He later stated that the flight as others previously through the flying club were charter flights. The flying club did not hold a Federal Aviation Administration issued air carrier certificate.

The pilot's failure to maintain obstacle clearance and the inadequate glidepath which resulted in a collision with a utility pole. Contributing factors were the lack of experience in the incident airplane by the left seat pilot, the visual illusion of a narrower runway, inadequate crew coordination of both pilots, and the improper use of aircraft by the flying club's management. The unlighted utility pole and the civil twilight light conditions were additional factors.