Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Johnson Brothers Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Calexico, California 92232
Friday, February 4, 2005 13:15 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane veered off the runway, collided with a berm, and came to rest in a ditch following a loss of control during landing. During the landing flare the pilot encountered a left crosswind and he input right rudder to compensate for the crosswind, but the pedal would not move. After the accident the pilot noticed that he was still depressing the right rudder pedal. He looked down and saw that the rudder pedal adjusting pin was caught on the aft edge of the hopper. When he relaxed pressure on the rudder pedal, the pedal moved to the left and was free of the hopper. Post accident examination by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed a groove the pin had carved into the side wall of the hopper over time. The groove began at a radius in the hopper wall where the wall turned 90 degrees from a cross cockpit orientation to a longitudinal direction. When he depressed the rudder pedal, he noted that the adjusting pin contacted the groove the entire length of travel. He further noted that despite the contact of the pin in the groove, there was no restriction of movement of the rudder pedal. A gouge dimensionally identical in shape and size to the pin was observed in the hopper just to the right of where the adjusting pin contacted the groove. The FAA inspector noted no groove or gouge on the left side of the hopper.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a loss of directional control due to a jammed rudder pedal, which prevented the pilot from exercising full rudder control authority.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/4/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1315 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Calexico |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92232 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 324024N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1153332W |
| Event Location Airport | Johnson Brothers Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 61CL |
| 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 | -1 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1253 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | IPL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -56 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | -2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.99 |
| 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) | 20744 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 5 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1236 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 28 2006 9:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SAN-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4530L |
| NTSB Number | LAX05LA085 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Air Tractor |
| Aircraft Model | AT-401 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 401-0761 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 7860 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 101 |
| Airframe Hours | 7154 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Frontier Agricultural Service, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 1768 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Calexico |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92232 |
| 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 | NJGG |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| 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) | Aerial Application |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 61CL |
| Departure City | Calexico |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1300 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 61CL |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 16 2006 12:43PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 9 |
| Runway Length | 2500 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |