Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fort Myers Lee Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fort Myers, Florida 33907
Tuesady, May 31, 2005 17:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated that no abnormalities were noted during a thorough preflight inspection or during the walk around. The takeoff roll and initial climb were uneventful, at about 300 feet above the ground, the top cowling of the engine separated and struck the right side of the windshield and the right side of the horizontal stabilator. The pilot returned to the airport and landed without further incident. The center portion of the top engine cowling was not recovered. The right portion of the top engine cowling separated in-flight but was recovered, and the left portion of the top engine cowling remained attached to its two latch points. Examination of the right portion of the cowling revealed that the forward latch was broken and separated in half. Both the forward and aft latches were bent, twisted aft, and canted aft. Examination of the left portion of the cowling revealed no apparent damage to the latches. The accident airplane had a previous incident on October 22, 2003, in which the top engine cowling separated during climb out and impacted the windshield. The airplane returned to the airport and landed without further incident also. Examination of the maintenance records revealed that following the incident in 2003, the top engine cowling was replaced by a cowling which had accumulated 11,800 flight hours at the time of the replacement. That cowling subsequently had actions performed to it, including two repairs of the fiberglass structure accomplished on July 7, 2004 and September 14, 2004. The latter of these repairs addressed a crack at the forward area of the top cowling.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Inadequate maintenance and repair of the engine top cowling by company maintenance personnel, resulting in failure and separation of the cowling in flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/31/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1745 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Fort Myers |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 33907 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 263512N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0815147W |
| Event Location Airport | Fort Myers Lee |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FMY |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 17 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1753 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FMY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 15 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.87 |
| 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) | 20005 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Chief pilot of the operater, R |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 2 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 29 2006 3:49PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Tampa FSDO-35 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N333TG |
| NTSB Number | MIA05LA116 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-32R-300 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32R-7680320 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 72 |
| Airframe Hours | 6770 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Bellefonte Inc |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3704 Stonegate Dr |
| Aircraft Owner City | Durham |
| Aircraft Owner State | NC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 27705 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | RAM AIR FREIGHT INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1425 Meridian Dr., DRU Airport |
| Operator City | Raleigh |
| Operator State | NC |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 27623 |
| Operator Code | FFKA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | FMY |
| Departure City | -- |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | -- |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | APF |
| Destination City | Naples |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 19 2006 11:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 13 |
| Runway Length | 4912 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |