Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Craven County Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
New Bern, North Carolina 28562
Thursday, August 16, 2007 18:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During initial climb, the certified flight instructor (CFI) noticed very little resistance from the stabilator; however, he was able to land the airplane uneventfully using stabilator trim. Examination of the airplane revealed that the stabilator control cable turnbuckle terminal fitting had failed due to corrosion. The National Transportation Safety Board had issued a recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), more than 6 years prior to the incident. The Safety Board recommended that the FAA issue an airworthiness directive (AD) to require recurrent visual inspections for evidence of corrosion on control cable terminals, and the inspections should be performed after removal of any safety wire or safety clips on the terminals. At that time, the airplane manufacturer had committed to revising its maintenance manuals to include similar instruction. At the time of the incident, the airplane manufacturer had issued a service letter, but had not yet updated their maintenance manuals; and the FAA had issued a non-mandatory Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin in lieu of an AD. A mechanic performed an annual inspection of the incident airplane, and returned it to service, 21 days prior to the incident. The mechanic stated that he inspected the incident airplane's control cables for damage during its recent annual inspection; however, he believed he missed the corrosion on the turnbuckle terminal fitting due to a safety wire that covered it. The mechanic added that when he performed the annual inspection he was not aware of a manufacturer service letter or an FAA SAIB regarding the inspection for corrosion.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A failure of the stabilator control cable turnbuckle terminal fitting due to corrosion. Contributing to the accident were the mechanic's inadequate annual inspection, and the aircraft manufacturer's failure to provide adequate information in its maintenance manuals regarding the inspection of control cable terminals for corrosion.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 8/16/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1830 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | New Bern |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 28562 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 350423N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0770235W |
| Event Location Airport | Craven County Regional Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | EWN |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 18 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1854 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EWN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 18 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| 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) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 23 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| 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) | 29.99 |
| 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 |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 23320 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Pilot |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 17 2007 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 | Greensboro, NC |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N30521 |
| NTSB Number | NYC07IA194 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-44-180 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 44-7995076 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3800 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 5695 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Tradewind Aviation |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | New Bern |
| Aircraft Owner State | NC |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 28562 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | EWN |
| Departure City | New Bern |
| Departure State | NC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1830 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | EWN |
| Destination City | New Bern |
| Destination State | NC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 19 2008 6:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MUZD |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 22 |
| Runway Length | 6004 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |