Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Cassville Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cassville, Wisconsin 53806
Wednesday, September 3, 2008 15:53 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Two pilots, who were enrolled in an aviation training program, preflighted the airplane for a flight that was to pick up a friend at the destination airport. After departure, the right cabin door opened for reportedly unknown reasons, and was then held closed by the right seat pilot. The left seat pilot diverted to a nearby airport. During the approach the left seat pilot elected to perform a go-around because the approach "didn't look good." During the go-around, the door reopened, and the airplane rolled to the right and impacted the ground. The right seat pilot was fatally injuried. The airplane was equipped with gull wing type doors, which do not open against the direction of the relative airflow. The in-flight opening of a cabin door is not listed as an emergency in the Pilot's Information Manual and flight with a door open was not tested by the airplane manufacturer. Furthermore, flight is prohibited with a door being open or ajar. The airplane was consumed by fire and only portions of the door assemblies were recovered.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The left seat pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane during a go-around and the inadvertent in-flight opening of the cabin door for undetermined reasons. Contributing to the accident was the distraction of the door opening.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/3/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1553 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Cassville |
| Event State | WISCONSIN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 53806 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 424650N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0904052W |
| Event Location Airport | Cassville Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | C74 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.4 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 627 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1555 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PVB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1025 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 23 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 350 |
| 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 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 25867 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA-AGL-ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 3 2008 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 23 2009 9:47AM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Milwaukee FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N597TB |
| NTSB Number | CHI08LA272 |
| 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 | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | SOCATA |
| Aircraft Model | TB-20 Trinidad |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1817 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3086 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 19 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3912 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| 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 | 2000 University Ave |
| Operator City | Dubuque |
| Operator State | IA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 52001 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | DBQ |
| Departure City | Dubuque |
| Departure State | IA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PDC |
| Destination City | Prairie du Chie |
| Destination State | WI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Unknown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 29 2009 4:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | galm |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 11 |
| Runway Length | 3000 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |