Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Modesto City-Cty Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Modesto, California 95354
Saturday, May 10, 2008 13:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was performing in an airshow that was conducted at a controlled airport serviced by airlines. Two Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors acting as the FAA monitors, witnessed the accident. Performances, as a rule, are timed so that they do not conflict with inbound and landing airline traffic. If there is a timing conflict, normally the show is temporarily stopped so as not to delay the airline traffic. During the accident pilot's performance, the pilot was transmitting directly to the crowd, as well as communicating with an on ground safety observer, the airshow waiver holder, and an air traffic control tower controller. The air traffic control tower controller advised the pilot to stop the performance due to an inbound arriving airliner and make a right base entry for landing. The pilot had completed a normal sequence and then requested to make one more pass and the tower controller approved the request. The pilot then added the additional maneuver as his final routine before exiting the performance box. The FAA inspector indicated that during the added maneuver, the right wing impacted the ground. The pilot stated that during the airshow briefing, he had requested a sterile frequency for maintaining communication with airshow and ground support staff, which he indicated was standard operating procedures at other airshows. The air traffic control tower personnel elected to have the airshow pilots monitoring and communicating on the same frequency as the tower controllers. The pilot stated that during the flight, he was interrupted numerous times by tower personnel and incoming aircraft, which prevented his ground safety observer from communicating with him and not only added to his workload, but affected his concentration during the maneuver.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot failed to maintain clearance from terrain during a low-altitude maneuver at an airshow. Contributing to the accident was the task overload in the increased frequency congestion.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/10/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1300 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Modesto |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95354 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 373732N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1205715W |
| Event Location Airport | Modesto City-Cty Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KMOD |
| 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 | 97 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1311 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MOD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 97 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.98 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24762 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Com Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 10 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 10 2008 12:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SAC-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6660K |
| NTSB Number | SEA08LA128 |
| 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 | Moravan |
| Aircraft Model | Zlin 50LX |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 075 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1675 |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 12 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 8 |
| Airframe Hours | 1111 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Robin T Harrison |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Claremont |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91711 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Robin T Harrison |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Claremont |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 91711 |
| 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) | Air Race/Show |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KMOD |
| Departure City | Modesto |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1245 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | KMOD |
| Destination City | Modesto |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 10 2008 12:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 28R |
| Runway Length | 5911 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |