Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Dalton Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Flushing, Michigan 48420
Thursday, May 25, 2006 21:15 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The amphibian airplane sustained substantial damage when it nosed over during the landing roll on a soft, grass runway with the landing gear in the down position. The pilot reported he decided to land on the grass runway instead of the available asphalt runway because of favorable winds. The landing was normal until about 150 feet into the landing roll. The pilot reported that the small castoring wheels on the amphibian floats sank into the soft ground, and "caused our plane to pole-vault onto its tail." Inspection of the runway revealed that there was about 3/4 inch of standing water on the runway. The left and right landing gear drag braces and the left and right nose wheel castor housings were sent to the Materials Laboratory at the National Transportation Safety Board for inspection. The metallurgical inspection revealed that the fracture surfaces of the weld between the forward end of the struts, and the castor bodies exhibited deformation consistent with overstress with the nose wheel moving aft relative to the strut.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's selection of unsuitable terrain for landing, which resulted in the collapse of the amphibian float's nose wheels, and a nose over during the landing roll. Factors associated with the accident were the soft grass runway, and the collapse of the nose wheel fittings.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/25/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 2115 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Flushing |
| Event State | MICHIGAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 48420 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | -- |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | -- |
| Event Location Latitude | 430315N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0834828W |
| Event Location Airport | Dalton |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 3DA |
| 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 | 733 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2130 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 160 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FNT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 782 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 6 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 110 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.55 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | -- |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21777 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 26 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 25 2007 12:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-Detroit FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3010Q |
| NTSB Number | CHI06LA137 |
| 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 | Maule |
| Aircraft Model | MT-7-235 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18014C |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2750 |
| 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 | Mar 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 533 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Lois L. Montague |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Clio |
| Aircraft Owner State | MI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 48420 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 48D |
| Departure City | Clare |
| Departure State | MI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1955 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | 3DA |
| Destination City | Flushing |
| Destination State | MI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 30 2007 5:31PM |
| User who most recently changed record | DINC |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 9 |
| Runway Length | 1330 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |