Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Sylvania Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sturtevant, Wisconsin 53177
Thursday, May 26, 2005 15:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The parachute jump plane was substantially damaged when it collided with a parachutist on final approach for landing. The pilot was not able to maintain directional control and the airplane impacted trees and terrain near the airport. The pilot stated that he was on final approach for landing, when a parachutist "made a rapid descent and accelerated from behind [his] right wing." The parachutist hit the right wing and the airplane entered an unrecoverable descending right turn, subsequently striking a tree line. The parachutist involved in the accident stated that he "couldn't quite make it to the landing area" because the "spot was a little long." He noted that as a result he intended to land in front of the hangar. He reported he did not hear or see the jump plane. The parachutist stated: "I have a very high performance canopy and I descended quickly over the [airfield]. I crossed the far north edge of the grass runway for only an instant. I came from above and when my canopy leveled out, I was in front of the right wing." The drop zone for experienced parachutists was located north of the turf runway and west of the hangar buildings. Jump planes normally used the adjacent turf runway for landing. Advisory Circular 90-66A, Recommended Standard Traffic Patterns and Practices for Aeronautical Operations at Airports without Operating Control Towers, stated: "When a drop zone has been established on an airport, parachutists are expected to land within the drop zone. . . . Pilots and parachutists should both be aware of the limited flight performance of parachutes and take steps to avoid any potential conflicts between aircraft and parachute operations." Helmet-mounted video cameras from the parachutist involved in the accident, as well as a second parachutist on the accident jump, revealed that both parachutists descended through a cloud prior to canopy deployment. Federal regulations stated that parachute operations may not be conducted "into or through a cloud."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the jump plane pilot to maintain clearance from the parachutist descent area/drop zone until assured that all jumpers had landed, and the parachutist's failure to maintain an adequate visual lookout for the jump plane during all phases of the jump. Contributing factors were the inability of the pilot to maintain directional control of the airplane after collision with the parachutist, the airplane's low altitude at the time of the collision, the parachutist, and the trees. An additional factor was the proximity of the runway to the drop zone.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/26/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1500 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Sturtevant |
| Event State | WISCONSIN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 53177 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 424212N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0875732W |
| Event Location Airport | Sylvania |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | C89 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 785 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1500 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 170 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ENW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 743 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| 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) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.89 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 1 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20845 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 26 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 31 2007 9:40AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-Milwaukee FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N346F |
| NTSB Number | CHI05LA130 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Pilatus |
| Aircraft Model | PC-6 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 2001 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4850 |
| 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 | 11 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 9708.1 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Cab Air |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 493 Airport Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Cedartown |
| Aircraft Owner State | GA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 30125 |
| 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) | Skydiving |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | C89 |
| Departure City | Sturtevant |
| Departure State | WI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1445 |
| 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 | Approach - VFR pattern - final approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 26 2006 10:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | DINC |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26R |
| Runway Length | 2343 |
| Runway Width | 120 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |