Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Scappoose Industrial Airpark Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Scappoose, Oregon 97056
Monday, September 17, 2007 17:45 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was a potential buyer of the airplane and was flying it on short final approach. He said that he attempted to correct for a sink rate, which included pulling back full aft on the control stick to arrest the descent. The airplane's nose then abruptly pitched down about 45 degrees and the airplane struck the runway. A visual examination of the airplane's flight control system by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors revealed that the flight control stick gimbal mechanism had fractured and the control stick was separated from the mechanism. The flight control stick gimbal mechanism and a portion of the fuselage structure were shipped to the Safety Board's Materials Laboratory for a metallurgical examination. According to the metallurgical examination, the fatigue cracking of the fuselage tube structure in the area of the control stick gimbal mechanism emanated from the root of a weld in an area between tube joints. The Safety Board's senior metallurgist reported that the fatigue had propagated through approximately 30 percent of the wall thickness. The fatigue crack was located near an area of the fuselage tube that contained a 0.7-inch-long region of incomplete weld penetration at the root of the weld.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of aircraft pitch control due to the fatigue failure of the fuselage tube structure at the flight control stick gimbal mechanism due to an incomplete weld penetration at the root of the weld.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/17/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1745 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Scappoose |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97056 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 454626N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1225100W |
| Event Location Airport | Scappoose Industrial Airpark |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SPB |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 58 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1753 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SPB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 58 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.12 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24749 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 17 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 9 2008 4:38PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-PDX-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1415B |
| NTSB Number | LAX07LA280 |
| 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 | Root |
| Aircraft Model | Sherpa |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0012 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Byron L. Root |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Clackamas |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97015 |
| 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 | Clackamas |
| Operator State | OR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 97015 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | SPB |
| Departure City | Scappoose |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | SPB |
| Destination City | Scappoose |
| Destination State | OR |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 9 2008 4:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 33 |
| Runway Length | 5100 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |