Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Gerald Gollehon Strip Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Wilbur, Washington 99185
Monday, May 28, 2007 15:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Based on all the available evidence, it is believed that shortly after taking off from his private grass airstrip, the pilot encountered an undetermined problem that caused him to attempt a precautionary or forced landing in the only nearby level flat open area available. During that attempt, with the airplane in the landing configuration, and at a very low airspeed, the airplane's left wing came in contact with the level terrain. When the wing contacted the terrain, the airplane cart wheeled nose-first into the ground, and came to a stop about 12 feet beyond where the nose impacted the field. The investigation did not reveal any anomalies in the airplane's airframe, engine, or flight controls that would explain the necessity for the forced landing or would have contributed to the wing tip coming in contact with the terrain. It could not be determined if the pilot lost control of the airplane during the last part of the landing sequence, or whether he inadvertently allowed the wing tip to touch the ground during a low level turn to align the airplane's heading parallel to an upcoming ditch just prior to touchdown.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
In-flight collision with terrain shortly after takeoff for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/28/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1515 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Wilbur |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99185 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 474940N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1183959W |
| Event Location Airport | Gerald Gollehon Strip |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 22WA |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 2350 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| 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) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 23432 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 28 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 30 2008 1:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Spokane FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9434N |
| NTSB Number | SEA07FA134 |
| 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 | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 185 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18504355 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3350 |
| 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 | 6 |
| 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 | 17 |
| Airframe Hours | 2745 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Gerald G Gollehon, Jr. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wilbur |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99185 |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Wilbur |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| 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 | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 9 2008 8:43PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 09 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |