Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Visalia Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Visalia, California 93277
Monday, April 19, 2004 18:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane landed hard, ground looped, and collided with a parked airplane. The pilot was landing on an unimproved, unauthorized area of the airport. During final approach, an airplane taxied in front of him and presented a potential conflict. According to a witness, the pilot flared the airplane and the right wing dropped, "as though it may have stalled." The right wing impacted the ground and then the airplane returned to a three-point attitude. The airplane then ground looped and impacted an airplane parked on the ramp. Prior to the accident, the airport manager verbally informed the pilot that he was only to use the designated runways as landing areas.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain an adequate airspeed on final approach, which resulted in an inadvertent stall and a hard landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/19/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1800 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Visalia |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93277 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 361907N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1192334W |
| Event Location Airport | Visalia |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | VIS |
| 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 | 313 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1855 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | VIS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 295 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 11000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 11000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Broken |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.15 |
| 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) | 17773 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 19 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 944 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 8 2005 12:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FAT-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N40AW |
| NTSB Number | LAX04LA297 |
| 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 | Aviat |
| Aircraft Model | A-1A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1545 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1890 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 15 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 25 |
| Airframe Hours | 525 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Jan Piperis |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Visalia |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93277 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | William Zinger |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Visalia |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 93277 |
| 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 | VIS |
| Departure City | Visalia |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1800 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - roll |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 24 2005 5:13PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |