Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Salt Lake City, Utah 84116
Saturday, May 10, 2003 12:09 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was a former military (non-certificated) aircraft which was under contract to the U.S. Army. It was descending over the Great Salt Lake for landing at Hill Air Force Base when the engine ingested a bird. Subsequently the engine was heavily FOD damaged, and the turbine section was melted. The pilot ejected from the airplane, but the ejection seat system malfunctioned and the pilot was fatally injured. The airplane impacted the lake. The airplane had been contracted and built for the Israeli Defense Force in 1974. The maintenance log books and physical evidence indicated that they had made modifications to the ejection seat assembly. Naval Air Station (NAVAIR DEPOT), Jacksonville, Florida, personnel evaluated the ejection seat system and determined that the left hand coupling assembly (which has very critical parameters for proper operation) had not separated as designed. The NAVAIR DEPOT personnel could not determine the reason the left hand coupling assembly did not operate properly, as the airplane's cockpit was not recovered from the Great Salt Lake.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The lose of engine power during descent due to the in-flight collision with a bird which FOD damaged the engine and subsequently melted the turbine section. A contributing factor was the airplane's malfunctioning ejection seat.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/10/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1209 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Salt Lake City |
| Event State | UTAH |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 84116 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 405335N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1121634W |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1211 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 100 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SLC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4227 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 18 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3400 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1200 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.08 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 4176 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17698 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 10 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1300 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 8 2005 12:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Salt Lake City, UT |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N263WL |
| NTSB Number | DEN03TA079 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Public Use |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | McDonnell Douglas |
| Aircraft Model | A-4N |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 159523 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 24500 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 4 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2 |
| Airframe Hours | 2664 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Advanced Training Systems International Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 1900 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Higley |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85236 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | IWA |
| Departure City | Mesa |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1100 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | HIF |
| Destination City | Ogden |
| Destination State | UT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 6 2005 1:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |