Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Clayton, North Carolina 27520
Friday, September 21, 2007 10:10 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The instrument rated pilot who had not logged any actual instrument flight time did not obtain any preflight weather briefing with either Lockheed Martin FSS or DUATS. Instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) due to low ceilings and visibility were forecast to exist between the departure airport and the crash site location, though VFR conditions existed at the destination airport at both the departure time and estimated time of arrival. The flight departed under VFR, and proceeded in a northeasterly direction to a point approximately 59 nautical miles north-northeast from the departure airport where it was identified on radar. The flight was observed on radar for 55 nautical miles, and never flew higher than 800 feet pressure altitude. The flight continued in a northeasterly direction gradually descending while the terrain elevation gradually increased. A ceiling of broken clouds at 400 feet above ground level (agl) was noted at an airport 21 nautical miles from the crash site. For the last 9 minutes 31 seconds of the flight, the ground speed never decreased less than 110 knots. The airplane descended to 265 feet agl, and at the last radar return, which was located 0.18 nautical miles from the crash site, the ground speed was 130 knots. While approaching an antenna tower and water tower which were ahead of the flight path and 215 and 185 feet agl, respectively, the pilot banked hard to the right, and with the engine operating at approximately 2,300 rpm, the airplane impacted the parking lot of a restaurant. The airplane crashed into the restaurant, and was fragmented. A fire erupted at impact and the restaurant sustained impact and fire damage. Examination of the airframe, flight controls, engine, engine accessories, and propeller revealed no evidence of preimpact failure or malfunction.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's intentional abrupt maneuver during low altitude cruise flight to avoid obstructions ahead, resulting in an in-flight collision with terrain and a building. Contributing to the accident were the failure of the pilot to obtain a preflight weather briefing and his flight into known IMC.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/21/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1010 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Clayton |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 27520 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 353830N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0782710W |
| 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 | 1005 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 310 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RDU |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 435 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 21 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 400 |
| 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) | 1 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 60 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.16 |
| 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) | 24627 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Southern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 21 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 19 2008 3:07PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Greensboro, North Carolina |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8844H |
| NTSB Number | MIA07FA154 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | North American |
| Aircraft Model | Navion |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | NAV-4-844 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2750 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 1 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 3 |
| 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 | Jul 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 4184.4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | C91-A |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Garry S. Reid |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Chantilly |
| Aircraft Owner State | VA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 20152 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Galivants Ferry |
| Operator State | SC |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 29544 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | HYW |
| Departure City | Conway |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 916 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CJR |
| Destination City | Culpeper |
| Destination State | VA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 19 2008 3:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |