Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tacoma, Washington 98401
Thursday, June 2, 2005 6:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During an annual inspection, a crack was found in the lower wing spar cap of the subject aircraft. That discovery was reported via email to the NTSB's Northwest Regional Office. It was later determined that a fatigue crack had initiated at a rivet hole on the horizontal surface of the right wing lower spar cap, and propagated through approximately 80 percent of that surface. The NTSB materials laboratory determined that there was no evidence of inclusions, discontinuities, corrosion pitting, or material defects at the crack origins. All dimensional measurements were within engineering drawing specifications, and hardness and conductivity parameters for the aluminum alloy specified for the wing spar cap material were within material tolerances. During the investigation it was determined that at the time the crack was detected, the aircraft had flown 5,273 hours. Of that total time, approximately 1,100 hours were flown as part of a low-level pipeline patrol mission. It was further determined that as part of the certification process, Piper Aircraft had determined that the "general use" safe time in service (TIS), adjusted with a scatter pattern of eight, was 10,723 hours for the wing structure. The certification process did not include determination of a safe time in service when any portion of the aircraft's life included being used in a "pipeline survey" mission profile. The investigation also determined that the two rivet holes through which the crack passed (one of which was the point of origin) were the locations where two of the rivets that held the lower wing skin on in an area addressed by Piper Service Bulletin 796B, Part One. This service bulletin was published by Piper to address "loose and working rivets along the lower spar cap." In part, the bulletin states, "If this condition exists, and is left uncorrected over an extended period of time, the structural integrity of the wing could be compromised." The actions delineated in this service bulletin had not been performed on this aircraft (N27PG) even though loose and working (smoking) rivets were found at the subject location on the lower skins of both wings.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The initiation and propagation of a fatigue crack, over 5,273 hours of cyclic in-flight usage, through approximately 80 percent of the aircraft's right wing spar lower cap.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 6/2/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 600 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Tacoma |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98401 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 471605N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1223441W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 20385 |
| NTSB Notification Source | PAC Northwest Adjusters |
| 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 | Oct 3 2006 2:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | -- |
| FAA District Office | Seattle FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N27PG |
| NTSB Number | SEA05IA115 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Unknown |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | -- |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-46-350P |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 4622104 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4300 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0 |
| Airframe Hours | 5273 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Wade H. Perrow |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Gig Harbor |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98335 |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | -- |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | -- |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Unknown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 5 2013 12:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | broda |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |