Warren County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Front Royal, Virginia 22630
Thursday, April 29, 2004 18:30 EDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The airplane was on approach to land on runway 9, a 2,993-foot-long, 75-foot-wide, asphalt runway. The pilot encountered a gust of wind just prior to landing. The airplane landed hard, and began to bounce. After the second bounce, the pilot elected to abort the landing; however, the airplane departed the left side of the runway, and struck an embankment. Winds reported at an airport located about 15 miles south of the accident site, about 10 minutes before the accident, were from 170 degrees at 11 knots. The reported winds about 10 minutes after the accident, were from 160 degrees at 10 knots, with 16 knot gusts.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during an aborted landing. A factor in this accident was the crosswind conditions.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 4/29/2004
Event Day of the Week Thursday
Time of Event 1830
Event Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Event City Front Royal
Event State VIRGINIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 22630
Event Date Year 2004
Event Date Month 4
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 385503N
Event Location Longitude 0781512W
Event Location Airport Warren County
Event Location Nearest Airport ID FRR
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 709
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1840 Eastern Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 180
Weather Observation Facility ID OKV
Elevation of weather observation facility 721
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 15
Time Zone of the weather observation EDT
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) 22
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 10
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 160
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 10
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Gusting
Wind Gust (knots) 16
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 30.22
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 2
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All --
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 16402
NTSB Notification Source FAA EROC
NTSB Notification Date Apr 30 2004 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 700
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Sep 29 2004 1:02PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\MONR
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Dulles, Virginia

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N99NH
NTSB Number NYC04CA115
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 Mooney
Aircraft Model M20C
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 2364
Certified Max Gross Weight --
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 --
Date of Last Inspection --
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours 1779
ELT Installed Unknown
ELT Activated Unknown
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Unknown
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Richard B. Kleese
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City Strasburg
Aircraft Owner State VA
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 22657
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 VJI
Departure City Abingdon
Departure State VA
Departure Country USA
Departure Time --
Departure Time Zone --
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code FRR
Destination City Front Royal
Destination State VA
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Landing - aborted
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Jun 3 2004 9:35AM
User who most recently changed record PEAR
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 9
Runway Length 2993
Runway Width 75
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --