Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
North View Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Berlin, Pennsylvania 15530
Sunday, August 4, 2002 19:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
About 20 minutes after takeoff, while flying through some turbulent air, the pilot experienced a loss of elevator control. The pitch oscillated as the pilot attempted to return to the airport, but the airplane eventually pitched nose down into the roof of a hangar. Examination of the wreckage revealed that two bolts, which secured the elevator assembly, had failed consistent with overstress. A piece from one of the bolts was not recovered, and the pilot did not notice the missing piece until he had removed the fabric near the outer connection of the elevator to recover the other bolt. There were no holes in the fabric, and the pilot could not explain the missing bolt piece. He believed that the missing bolt had failed several years ago. The airplane was manufactured in 1996, and the pilot purchased it from a previous owner in 1999. At the time of purchase, the airplane had accumulated 16 hours of total flight time. The pilot installed a new engine, and had flown about 16 additional hours until the accident. After the purchase, the pilot had the airplane refabricated. He thought it was possible that the people refabricating the airplane did not notice the missing bolt, and it dropped to the ground during the refabrication. The pilot surmised that flying 16 hours with one bolt missing increased the stress on the remaining bolt.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the elevator attachment bolts.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/4/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1930 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Berlin |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 15530 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 395555N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0785724W |
| Event Location Airport | North View Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 78PA |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 2320 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1954 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 20 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | JST |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2277 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 24 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.21 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14480 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Allegheny FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 15 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 25 2003 11:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Allegheny, PA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | None |
| NTSB Number | NYC02LA201 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Aircraft Model | T-Bird II |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | -- |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | Not Registered |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 1 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 16 |
| Airframe Hours | 32 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | John Baer |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fairhope |
| Aircraft Owner State | NJ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 15538 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 78PA |
| Departure City | Berlin |
| Departure State | PA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1910 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 78PA |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 7 2003 11:54AM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 32 |
| Runway Length | 2450 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |