Smith Private Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Brooks, Oregon 97305
Sunday, September 12, 2004 14:45 PDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

According to the flight instructor, the instructional flight was a check-ride preparation flight for the student. The flight instructor said that he was having the student perform a simulated engine out approach and landing. He stated that "on short final, the air speed diminished and [he] added full power in an attempt to prevent a stall." The airplane's nose wheel contacted some berry bushes growing on a berm at the end of the runway. Subsequently, the airplane's nose pitched down and the left wing impacted the ground, resulting in the separation of the outboard 4 feet of the wing. Additionally, the engine, nose landing gear, and right main landing gear separated from the fuselage, and the empennage was bent 90 degrees to the left.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The flight instructor's failure to maintain altitude/clearance on final approach to land resulting in an in-flight collision with terrain. Contributing factors were the student pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed during the approach and the flight instructor's delay in taking remedial action.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/12/2004
Event Day of the Week Sunday
Time of Event 1445
Event Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Event City Brooks
Event State OREGON
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 97305
Event Date Year 2004
Event Date Month 9
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 450154N
Event Location Longitude 1225725W
Event Location Airport Smith Private Airport
Event Location Nearest Airport ID 29OR
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 --
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1456 Pacific Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID SLE
Elevation of weather observation facility --
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation PDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 4600
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 3700
Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions Scattered
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) 19
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 12
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 240
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 7
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.95
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) 16792
NTSB Notification Source FAA ROC
NTSB Notification Date Sep 12 2004 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1628
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Dec 7 2004 11:17AM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\MONR
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Portland, OR

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N26327
NTSB Number SEA04CA186
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None
Flight plan Was Activated? No
Damage Destroyed
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Grumman American
Aircraft Model AA-5A
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number AA5A0535
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 --
Number of Engines 1
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
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 Pacific Flyers Inc.
Aircraft Owner Street Address 2480 Wayside Terr NE
Aircraft Owner City Salem
Aircraft Owner State OR
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 97303
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) Instructional
Second Pilot on Board Yes
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code MMV
Departure City McMinnville
Departure State OR
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1430
Departure Time Zone PDT
Destination Same as Local Flt crash at destination city
Destination Airport Code 29OR
Destination City Brooks
Destination State OR
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Approach - VFR pattern - downwind
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Sep 30 2004 2:11PM
User who most recently changed record STAM
Since inspection or accident --
Event Location Runway Number and Location 34
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --