Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Liberal, Kansas 67905
Tuesady, August 17, 2004 20:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The amateur-built experimental airplane sustained substantial damage when it nosed over after it veered off the left side of the runway. The pilot reported that he returned to land after 20 minutes of flight and that the airplane operated normally during the flight, including the touchdown. He reported that when the rudder lost its effectiveness during landing rollout, the airplane started to drift to the left. He applied right brake but without effect. He reported the airplane exited the left side of the runway and the nose gear "dug in" and the airplane nosed over about 2,000 feet from the touchdown point. An inspection of the airplane revealed that the left and right brakes operated. The nose gear fork was found broken with numerous fracture surfaces. All the fracture surfaces were consistent with overstress fractures. The nose wheel tire exhibited scuffing on the right half of the tire around its entire circumference. Grass was found embedded in between the tire and wheel rim on the right side of the tire. The left side of the tire had no scuff marks. The inspection of the nose wheel steering linkage indicated the nose wheel linkage was positioned in the full left direction. The inspection of the accident site revealed three tires skid marks approximately 1,600 feet in length extended from the airplane wreckage back to the touchdown zone on the runway. The tire marks veered to the left after touchdown. The airplane was equipped with an electric/hydraulic nose wheel steering system. The pilot reported that the nose wheel steering system was off during the landing. The airplane was equipped with the airplane's originally designed nose landing gear. The airplane was also equipped with the airplane's originally designed nose gear steering system's hydraulic actuator/shimmy dampner and steering linkage.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of directional control during landing for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/17/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 2030 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Liberal |
| Event State | KANSAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 67905 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 370239N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1005735W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| 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 | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 16483 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 28 2004 10:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N39SB |
| NTSB Number | CHI04CA230 |
| 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 | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Bowles |
| Aircraft Model | Questair Venture |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 66 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Sierra Bravo Partnership |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Sierra Bravo Partnership |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | PlO. Box 945 |
| Operator City | Liberal |
| Operator State | KS |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 67905 |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LBL |
| Departure City | Liberal |
| Departure State | KS |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2040 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| 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 |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 10 2004 5:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | DINC |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |