Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Blakely Island Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Blakely Island, Washington 98279
Thursday, October 2, 2003 16:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
When the pilot took off from Roche Harbor, the ceiling was about 700 feet above the ground (AGL), and remained so along his route. When he got to Blakely Island, he found the area near the north end of the runway was covered with low-level stratus clouds. Although he desired to land on runway 19, since the clouds were near the north end of the runway, he elected to proceed to the south end of the airport and land to the north. While on short final for runway 01, the aircraft encountered an area of downdrafts. Although the pilot added power and tried to adjust the sink rate, his remedial actions were insufficient to keep the aircraft from landing very hard just off the end of the paved surface. When the aircraft contacted the terrain, the landing gear collapsed, the wings were bent upwards, and the aircraft slid onto the paved runway surface and ultimately came to a stop. According to the pilot, there did not seem to be any problems with the aircraft's engines or flight control systems. The pilot further stated that because of the known turbulent air and downdrafts off the south end of the runway, of the "several hundred" landings he has made at Blakely Island, only a few have been on runway 01.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate compensation for downdrafts on final approach resulting in an excessive descent rate on short final. Factors include downdrafts off the approach end of the selected runway, and low clouds/fog.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/2/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1600 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Blakely Island |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98279 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 483444N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1224935W |
| Event Location Airport | Blakely Island |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 38WA |
| 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 | 50 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 700 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 1.5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14691 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 2 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1645 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 30 2003 8:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | SEA FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2695S |
| NTSB Number | SEA04LA001 |
| 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 | 340 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 340A-0772 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 6300 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 6 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 40 |
| Airframe Hours | 3800 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Lawrence M. Elliam |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Blakely Island |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98222 |
| 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 | W39 |
| Departure City | Roche Harbor |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1530 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | 38WA |
| Destination City | Blakely Island |
| Destination State | WA |
| 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 | Nov 13 2003 2:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 01 |
| Runway Length | 2200 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |