Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fulton County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Wauseon, Ohio 43567
Sunday, May 11, 2003 15:10 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane departed on a VFR cross country flight from Michigan to Minnesota during high wind conditions. Less than an hour later, the pilot unsuccessfully attempted to land at an airport in Ohio. A review of the last 2 1/2 minutes of radar data revealed that as the airplane tracked toward runway 27, it descended from 1,900 feet msl to 900 feet msl (about 120 feet agl), and decelerated to a ground speed of 68 knots. Prior to the flight, the pilot had utilized a computer weather reporting system. At the time of the accident, the National Weather Service had issued an urgent message, which stated: "An intense low pressure system over the upper Great Lakes will cause strong southwest to west winds across southern Michigan...northern Indiana...and northwest Ohio today. Winds will be sustained at 25 to 35 mph with gusts of 45 to 55 mph much of the day. The wind conditions at the airport, at the time of the accident, were from the west-southwest between 30-40 mph, gusting to 40-50 mph. Runway 27 was 3,882 feet long and 75 feet wide, with 80-foot trees located on the north and south sides of the first third of it. The trees on the north side of the runway were about 200 feet from runway centerline, while the trees on the south side of the runway were about 550 feet from runway centerline. The airport manager described the turbulence between the two sections of trees as a "terrible, terrible funnel effect...with lots of rolling wind."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilots failure to maintain control during the approach-to-landing. Factors were the high wind gusts and turbulence, and the pilot's decision to fly in those conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/11/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1510 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | WAUSEON |
| Event State | OHIO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 43567 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 413606N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0840701W |
| Event Location Airport | FULTON COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | USE |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1452 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 285 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TOL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 684 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 14 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4200 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 33 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 45 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.5 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14440 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA GLROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 11 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1630 |
| 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 | Cleveland FAA/FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4347W |
| NTSB Number | IAD03FA053 |
| 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 | 24R |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | MC-276 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1900 |
| 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 | Nov 20 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 92.9 |
| Airframe Hours | 2647.9 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | GENERAL AVIATION SERVICES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | EDEN PRAIRIE |
| Aircraft Owner State | MN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 55347 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 7DZ |
| Departure City | TROY |
| Departure State | MI |
| Departure Country | UZ |
| Departure Time | 1415 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | USE |
| Destination City | WAUSEON |
| Destination State | OH |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - final approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 16 2003 9:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | COXP |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |