Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Mt. Gilead, Ohio 43338
Wednesday, December 27, 2006 14:26 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The purpose of the flight was for the PIC/aircraft owner to receive familarization training from a certified flight instructor (CFI) in his newly purchased airplane. The PIC was a recently retired airline pilot and had not flown general aviation airplanes for a number of years. Witnesses reported hearing the aircraft engine and seeing the airplane descending straight into the trees. One witness reported the airplane went "straight up or tried to" prior to descending. Another witness reported seeing the airplane "twist" a little prior to it descending. The accident site was in a heavily wooded area which was surrounded by open fields. The airplane impacted the terrain in a nose down attitude and the only trees observed to have been damaged were those immediately surrounding the impact site. The landing gear and flaps were observed in the extended position. Inspection of the airplane and engine failed to reveal any mechanical failure/malfunction which would have precluded normal operation of the airplane. Radar data indicated that during the last 26 minutes of the flight, the airplane had been maneuvering with changes in heading, altitude, and groundspeed indicative of stalls and/or slow flight. The groundspeed, based on the radar data, varied from 164 knots to 39 knots. Just prior to the loss of radar contact, the ground speed based on the radar data was approximately 54 knots. According to the aircraft manufacturer the aircraft stall speeds, at a gross weight of 2,740 pounds, with flaps retracted is 68 miles per hour (mph) or 59 knots. With flaps set at 15 degrees the stall speed is 64 mph or 55 knots, and with flaps fully extended the stall speed is 62 mph or 54 knots. The speeds provided do not take into consideration the position of the landing gear.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Both the pilot-in-command/aircraft owner and the flight instructor failed to recover from the stall and the flight instructor's inadequate supervision of the flight. Contributing to the accident was the failure to maintain stall speed which resulted in the subsequent stall.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/27/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1426 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Mt. Gilead |
| Event State | OHIO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 43338 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 403023N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0844709W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1453 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 295 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MNN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 993 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 13 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| 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) | 4 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.07 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 23345 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 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 31 2008 11:52AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Columbus, OH FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9596M |
| NTSB Number | CHI07FA048 |
| 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 | Mooney |
| Aircraft Model | M-20F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 670173 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2740 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 17 |
| Airframe Hours | 4827 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Eric P. Balcom |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Howard |
| Aircraft Owner State | OH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 43028 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 4I3 |
| Departure City | Mt. Vernon |
| Departure State | OH |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1245 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 4I3 |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 24 2008 10:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | BOWL |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |