Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Greenville Downtown Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Greenville, South Carolina 29601
Thursday, April 8, 2004 14:41 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was cleared to land and went through his approach check with everything normal. The airplane crossed over the landing threshold and settled onto the runway in a three point landing attitude. During the landing roll, the pilot felt the left wing start to dip and the airplane vibrating. The airplane turned approximately 20-degrees to the right, the left front side struck the runway and the airplane came to a stop. The pilot had completed a series of touch and go landings, and during the accident landing, the leaf spring landing gear assembly broke. Examination revealed that the leaf spring gear strut fracture stemmed from an area of fatigue cracking that initiated at the upper forward side of the inboard hole for the step attachment bolts. Given the observed corrosion in the bolt hole, it was determined that the fatigue originated from corrosion pitting. For fatigue to initiate at the upper side of the spring strut, the upper side must have been placed in tension. According to the aircraft maintenance logbook for the 1946 built airplane, the leaf spring gear assembly and the total airframe time was 3,375 hours.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fatigue failure of the leaf spring gear strut.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/8/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1441 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Greenville |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29601 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 345052N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0822100W |
| Event Location Airport | Greenville Downtown Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KGMU |
| 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 | 1048 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1453 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KGMU |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1048 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4700 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| 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) | 230 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.67 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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) | 17537 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 8 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1851 |
| 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 | Columbia FSDO-13 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N527ST |
| NTSB Number | ATL04LA092 |
| 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 | 140 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 8527 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1450 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 9 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 116 |
| Airframe Hours | 3375 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Edward M Spinelli |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 627 Crestmont Way |
| Aircraft Owner City | Greenville |
| Aircraft Owner State | SC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 29615 |
| 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 | CEU |
| Departure City | Clemson |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1440 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | GMU |
| Destination City | Greenville |
| Destination State | SC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| 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 | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 19 |
| Runway Length | 5400 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |