Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Venice Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Venice, Florida 34285
Wednesday, March 30, 2005 21:35 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane crashed in the Gulf of Mexico, southwest of the departure end of runway 22, at the Venice Municipal Airport, Venice, Florida, in night visual meteorological conditions. During initial climb as the airplane took off and flew over the water, several witnesses were in the vicinity of a pier near a restaurant. The witnesses said they could hear the engine operating overhead, and that the airplane banked, and descended rapidly impacting the water with the engine operating. One of the witness on the pier at the restaurant stated that when the airplane was taking off from the departure end of runway 22, the sound of the engine drew his attention. He said that the engine was "sputtering, popping, and missing," and momentarily went to full power just prior to the airplane impacting the water. Sections of the airplane were later recovered, to include a section from the baggage compartment aft to the tail, the left and right horizontal stabilizer, the rudder, the right spar, the fuselage cabin belly along with the instrument panel, engine and propeller, and the right wing bladder. All sections of the airplane had incurred damage consistent with the impact and with salvage efforts, and when examined, no evidence of preaccident anomalies were noted. The pilot possessed an FAA private pilot certificate, with an airplane single-engine land rating, and according to his logbooks he had accumulated about 258.1 hours total time, 122.9 hours as pilot-in-command, 50.1 hours of simulated instrument total time, and 5.7 hours of night flight experience. A flight instructor with whom the pilot had recently trained revealed that the pilot had accumulated an additional 34.4 hours instrument flight training not recorded in his logbook. FAA records did not show that the pilot possessed an instrument rating.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's in-flight loss of control during takeoff/initial climb over the water at night due to spatial disorientation. A related factor was the night conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/30/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 2135 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Venice |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 34285 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 270343N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0822748W |
| Event Location Airport | Venice Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | VNC |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 18 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2141 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | VNC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 18 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| 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) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.01 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20648 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ATL Comm. Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 30 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2350 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 29 2006 12:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Tampa, Florida |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N60204 |
| NTSB Number | MIA05FA085 |
| 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 | Commander |
| Aircraft Model | 114-B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 14602 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3260 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0 |
| Airframe Hours | 1077 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | NFP Holdings, LLC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 9369 Apple Crest Dr. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Saline |
| Aircraft Owner State | MI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 48176 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | James E. Eaton |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | VNC |
| Departure City | Venice |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2135 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | SRQ |
| Destination City | Sarasota |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 15 2006 3:02PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 22 |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |