Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ava, Missouri 65608
Monday, April 16, 2007 16:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The passenger reported that during cruise flight the airplane inexplicably began a shallow left turn that the pilot was unable to counteract. The pilot reportedly moved the yoke to the left and right without any effect on the left bank angle. The airplane continued the unintended left turn with an increasingly steeper bank angle for three complete turns. The passenger reported that the airplane's pitch was vertically nose-down at the completion of the third turn, at which time the airplane impacted trees and terrain. The aileron control cable circuit was examined during the investigation. The inboard end of the right aileron upper cable was missing its eye splice and thimble. The cable had an approximate 90 degree bend at the location corresponding to the eye, consistent with residual deformation associated with an eye loop. The cable separation did not exhibit any kinking or heavy rubbing. The remaining sleeve (nicropress) on the right aileron upper cable did not conform to the manufacturer's specified crimp dimensions and had tooling markings that were not consistent with the use of the specified installation tool. In a properly installed eye splice, the cable should fracture before pulling out of its corresponding sleeve. The aileron cables used had a specified limit load of 2,000 pounds. The remaining eye splice on the right aileron upper cable pulled out of its sleeve at 476 pounds. The other five eye splices tested held more than 1,600 pounds before failure occurred in the cable. A review of the aircraft's maintenance logbooks did not reveal any specific mention of aileron control cable replacement. However, given the variability in the appearance and characteristics of the other aileron cable sleeves, it is likely that the nonconforming sleeves were not of original manufacture.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the aileron cable eye splice during cruise flight. Contributing to the accident were improper installation and service of the crimped cable sleeve, which rendered the airplane uncontrollable.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/16/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1600 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Ava |
| Event State | MISSOURI |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 65608 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 365018N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0922760W |
| 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 | 1553 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 86 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | UNO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1228 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 27 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.09 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24025 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 16 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 28 2008 3:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Federal Aviation Administration - Kansas City FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4712Z |
| NTSB Number | CHI07LA104 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-22-108 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 22-8256 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1650 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 2525.4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | William D. Relyea |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 833 East Dorris Avenue |
| Aircraft Owner City | Mountain Grove |
| Aircraft Owner State | MO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 65711 |
| 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 | 3M0 |
| Departure City | Lakeview |
| Departure State | AR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 1MO |
| Destination City | Mountain Grove |
| Destination State | MO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 4 2008 4:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | BOWL |
| 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 | -- |