Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
El Paso Intl Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
El Paso, Texas 79925
Thursday, September 28, 2006 15:50 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The amateur airplane nosed-over after landing on runway 22 (150-foot wide by 12,020-foot long asphalt runway). Witnesses reported that the airplane was reported to have either "jerked violently to the left" or "wobbled from side to side" upon touchdown. The airplane then continued to taxi down the runway for about 7,000 feet before the airplane nosed-over and came to rest in an inverted position on the runway. Correct air/oil ratio and strut inflation is critical for the proper operation of the landing gear strut. An improperly inflated strut reportedly result's in a "spongy" strut, which can aggravate directional control problems on the airplane. The original nose landing gear consists of a strut with a single-rod steering system and the design is absent gear scissors and/or a shimmy damper. A recommendation issued for the prevention of nose wheel shimming recommends for pilots to "lower the nose tire promptly, and keep it on the ground with forward stick pressure if necessary." The kit manufacturer offers an optional kit to upgrade the main gear strut air/oil ratio, making the strut more "rigid." The landing gear arrangement on the accident airplane was the original configuration, except a small spring had been added to the steering fork and a hydraulic operating steering system, activated by a switch on the control stick, had been added by the builder. However, a scissor-link/shimmy dampener was not added. In addition, the builder had not incorporated the addition of a canopy frame or a rollover bar. The main landing gear struts were also reported to be inflated to about one-and-a-half inches, instead of the recommended three-eighths to one-half inch of extension.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The aircraft's inadequate landing gear design, which resulted in a loss of directional control and subsequent nose-over. A factor was the owner/builder's failure to incorporate modifications to the landing gear.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/28/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1550 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | El Paso |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 79925 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 314843N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1062239W |
| Event Location Airport | EL PASO INTL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ELP |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1551 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ELP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.15 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21446 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 28 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 29 2007 12:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Albuquerque, NM |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5QE |
| NTSB Number | DFW06LA216 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Weber |
| Aircraft Model | Venture |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 54 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Alan D Weber |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5241 Beachcomber Way |
| Aircraft Owner City | Oxnard |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93035 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | TKI |
| Departure City | MC KINNEY |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ELP |
| Destination City | El Paso |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - roll |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 29 2007 2:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 22 |
| Runway Length | 12020 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |