Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 29577
Saturday, March 24, 2007 12:40 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane collided with water following a loss of engine power. According to the pilot, he picked up a advertising banner at a private airport and proceeded at 1,000 feet agl to the beach. Upon arrival at the beach, he turned to a 250-degree heading and descended to 500 feet agl. The pilot stated that he switched to the right fuel tank, which was full, and experienced a power failure. He switched back to the left fuel tank but could not restore power. He landed in about two feet of water substantially damaging the airplane. Examination of the airplane by an FAA inspector found that the pilot had departed the private airport with 5-gallons of fuel in the left tank and 18-gallons of fuel in the right tank. When the pilot switched tanks the engine stalled. His attempt to restart the engine were unsuccessful. The engine was not equipped with an electric starter and it had stopped wind milling. The pilot conducted a forced landing onto the beach and did not drop the banner. Damage to the airplane consisted of the tail section, and damage to the airframe structure. There were no mechanical problems reported by the pilot or discovered during the post-accident examination of the airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of engine power due to undetermined reasons. A factor in the accident was the pilot's failure to follow emergency procedures when he failed to jettison the advertising banner prior to his forced landing in water.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/24/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1240 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Myrtle Beach |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29577 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 334028N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0785525W |
| 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 | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MYR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.32 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21559 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Com Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 24 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 27 2007 1:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Columbia FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4330Z |
| NTSB Number | ATL07CA055 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-18-150 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18-8650 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1750 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 16000 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Sky Signs LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 6920 Highway 701 S. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Conway |
| Aircraft Owner State | SC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 29527 |
| 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) | Banner Tow |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PVT |
| Departure City | Conway |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1215 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 23 2007 10:50AM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |