Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Rockford, Illinois 61101
Thursday, July 17, 2008 16:55 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The positioning flight was in cruise flight and had just encountered light turbulence when the left-hand wing-to-body fairing separated from the airplane. The panel had been last removed by company maintenance personnel performing maintenance relating to the autopilot system. The forward flat portion of panel had four screw holes in the underlying structure, but the fairing had only three screw holes. Inspection of the operator's other EA500 airplanes showed that some fairings made use of four screw holes while others made use of three screw holes even though four screw holes were available in the underlying structure. An inspection of the airplane revealed that all of the screws were intact except for three screws located at the forward flat edge of the fairing. The respective nuts for these three screws were in place. All but one of the screws and grommets for the curved fairing piece had pulled through the fairing and were attached to the underlying structure. Two and possibly three screw holes at the forward edge of the flat piece of fairing did not have grommets in place and radial cracking of the finished coat was observed at these holes. Also, a delamination ring was observed on the backside of the flat piece of fairing at the screw holes. With the absence of grommets there is a reduced force necessary to pull through the fairing. The outer diameter of the screw head and grommet differ by 0.040 inch. Larger grommets with an integral flange are used in other areas of the airplane, which provide more surface area, distribute contact forces, and improve adhesion to the screw hole. According to the operator, the repetitive removal of screws would result in the countersunk metal grommets loosening from their adhesive bond to the composite fairing.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The improper installation of the forward edge of the left-hand wing-to-body panel, causing the fairing to separate from the airplane during an in-flight encounter with light turbulence. Contributing to the event was the use of small-head screws and grommets in securing the fairing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 7/17/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1655 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Rockford |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 61101 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| 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 | 1654 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RFD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 742 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4600 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 19 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.07 |
| 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) | 25060 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 18 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 19 2009 2:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | bowl |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Dupage FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N875NA |
| NTSB Number | CHI08IA200 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Eclipse Aviation Corporation |
| Aircraft Model | EA500 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5800 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Group Four Aviation Partners, LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Highland Park |
| Aircraft Owner State | IL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 60035 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | North American Jet Charters Group, LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Wheeling |
| Operator State | IL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 60090 |
| Operator Code | CJ6A |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PNA |
| Departure City | PINEDALE |
| Departure State | WY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1306 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PWK |
| Destination City | CHICAGO/PROSPEC |
| Destination State | IL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 6 2009 10:58AM |
| User who most recently changed record | galm |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |