Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Raleigh-Durham International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Raleigh, North Carolina 27601
Thursday, April 27, 2006 14:25 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While in cruise flight at 17,000 feet, the pilot smelled smoke. A few seconds later, flames and smoke started shooting out of the lower left windshield. The pilot turned off the windshield heat, and the flames went out, but the smoke persisted. The pilot declared an emergency with air traffic controllers, diverted, and landed the airplane safely. Examination of the airplane found scorch marks and soot on the left windshield near the terminal block. The damaged windshield was shipped to the manufacturer, PPG Industries, Inc., for further examination. Examination revealed the unit showed a condition similar to other units that were found to have overheated blocks during late 1996 and early 1997. These blocks were subject to a joint investigation by Raytheon Aircraft Company and PPG during 1997. That investigation identified the root cause of the terminal block overheating, relating to the manufacturing process. The manufacturing process was corrected by PPG in August 1996. Raytheon issued Safety Communiqué No. 134, describing the events, part numbers affected, and procedures to perform in case of such an event. These procedures were added to the FAA-approved airplane operating handbook in June 1997. The damaged windshield from this incident was one of the windshields manufactured just before the manufacturing process was corrected.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The inadequate manufacturing process, which resulted in a windshield fire and subsequent emergency landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 4/27/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1425 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Raleigh |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 27601 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 355259N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0784725W |
| Event Location Airport | RALEIGH-DURHAM INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KRDU |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 435 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1451 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KRDU |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 435 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1200 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 600 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 2 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 11 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.93 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21131 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Com Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 27 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 26 2007 9:33AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Greensboro FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N90CH |
| NTSB Number | ATL06IA071 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | C90A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | LJ-1445 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 10100 |
| 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 | 8 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 21 |
| Airframe Hours | 2678 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CHARTCO LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 102 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Salisbury |
| Aircraft Owner State | NC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 28145 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Carolina Air Charter, Inv |
| 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 | DYYA |
| 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 | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Executive/Corporate |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | JQF |
| Departure City | Concord |
| Departure State | NC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1331 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | IAD |
| Destination City | Washington |
| Destination State | DC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 8 2007 1:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |