Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Greenville Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Greenville, Michigan 48838
Sunday, September 7, 2003 18:00 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was substantially damaged when it impacted trees and terrain during initial climb from a 4,200 foot long hard surfaced runway. The pilot reported the airplane had full fuel and 3 passengers. The pilot stated that for the takeoff he selected 20 degrees of flaps, rotated the airplane about 60 miles per hour, and kept the airplane in ground effect to gain airspeed. He stated that during the climb the wings started to stall. The pilot lowered the nose to regain airspeed, but impacted 70 foot high trees at the departure end of the runway. The airplane flight manual recommends no flaps for normal and obstacle clearnace takeoffs and flaps 10 degrees to shorten ground run. It does not recommend flaps settings of 30-40 degrees. Based upon the airport's weather observation temperature data, the density altitude was 2,332 feet mean sea level with a relative humidity of 51 percent.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate takeoff procedure with the use of 20 degrees of flaps. Contributing factors were the interrelated effects of high aircraft weight, the density altitude, and the relative humidity. An additional factor was the trees.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/7/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1800 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Greenville |
| Event State | MICHIGAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 48838 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 430832N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0851514W |
| Event Location Airport | Greenville Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 6D6 |
| 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 | 855 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1756 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 211 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GRR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 855 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.06 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2332 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15439 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 7 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1842 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 3 2004 1:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Grand Rapids FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3811L |
| NTSB Number | CHI03LA303 |
| 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 | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 172G |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17253980 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2300 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 4700 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Monarch Aviation |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 10593 S Greenville Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Greenville |
| Aircraft Owner State | MI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 48838 |
| 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 | 6D6 |
| Departure City | Greenville |
| Departure State | MI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1800 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 6D6 |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 5 2004 7:53AM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 10 |
| Runway Length | 4200 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |