Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Mckellar-Sipes Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Jackson, Tennessee 38301
Saturday, October 4, 2003 13:35 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the pilot he was involved in an air show performance of a car top takeoff and landing routine. The pilot stated that after performing the landing and waving to the crowd, he and the driver of the car lined up at the departure end of the runway and proceeded to start the take off roll. The tail of the airplane lifted off as expected. The driver of the car was to reach 43 miles per hour. the pilot stated he was watching for the latching mechanism to release the left main landing gear tire assembly first, then the right main landing gear tire. During the actuation of the release system, the forward section of the wheel stops fall forward and down to a point just below parallel with the ramps. After the tires were released he applied full power and pulled back on the control stick. The airplane rolled forward into the concave wheel stops. The tail wheel struck a support tube on the car just above the rear window then bounced slightly. For a brief moment the tail wheel was free from the structure on the car before once again becoming entangled in the left hand ramp on the car. At this point, forward movement became lateral movement to the left. As the airplane rotated and rolled to the left, the left hand elevator contacted the outside of the left hand ramp and was crushed, twisting the entire empennage. The left wing tip dipped and struck the ground.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's improper us of flight controls during an attempted takeoff, which resulted in an collision with the specially equipped automobile.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/4/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1335 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Jackson |
| Event State | TENNESSEE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 38301 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 353600N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0885500W |
| Event Location Airport | McKellar-Sipes Regional |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MKL |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 434 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1353 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MKL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 434 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 8500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 80 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.05 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 891 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17530 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Com Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 4 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 | Apr 28 2005 2:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Memphis FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N38272 |
| NTSB Number | ATL04LA006 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | J-3 -C65 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 6898 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1050 |
| 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 | 2 |
| 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 | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Wright Attitudes Inc |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3705 Fairview St. NW |
| Aircraft Owner City | Huntsville |
| Aircraft Owner State | AL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 35805 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Paul W. Johnson |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 3705 Fairview ST. SW |
| Operator City | Huntsville |
| Operator State | AL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 35805 |
| 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) | Air Race/Show |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | MKL |
| Departure City | Jackson |
| Departure State | TN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1330 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | MKL |
| Destination City | Jackson |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Other |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 11 |
| Runway Length | 3540 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |