Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Mark's Park And Airfield Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
New London, Wisconsin 54961
Saturday, September 20, 2008 9:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The student pilot and flight instructor of the powered parachute had accomplished approximately 10 touch-and-goes prior to the accident, and "everything went perfectly." However, when the aircraft touched down on the final landing the nose wheel support failed causing the aircraft to ground loop. During the accident sequence the steering bar struck the student pilot in the chest. A postaccident examination revealed that the nose wheel front fork support had failed at a welded joint immediately forward of the airframe attachment bolt. Visual examination of the weld indicated a lack of penetration at the joint. In addition, the weld material did not appear to be of a uniform thickness. The manufacturer subsequently issued a service bulletin advising owners of two failures of the welded joint on the front fork support. The manufacturer recommended that supports be replaced with a Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welded support. The original support may have been Metal Inert Gas (MIG) welded without proper penetration, according to the bulletin.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's loss of directional control during landing due to failure of the nose wheel support as a result of an inadequate weld.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/20/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | New London |
| Event State | WISCONSIN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 54961 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 441825N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0884616W |
| Event Location Airport | Mark's Park and Airfield |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 3WN4 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 855 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 935 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PCZ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 840 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 11 |
| 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) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.15 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 24978 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA-Milwaukee FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 14 2009 1:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sort |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N7084L |
| NTSB Number | CHI08LA297 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | POWRACHUTE CORP |
| Aircraft Model | PEGASUS |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | A-044-PEG |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | -- |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| 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 | GIBSON DONALD C |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | ANTIGO |
| Aircraft Owner State | WI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 54409-9019 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | GIBSON DONALD C |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | ANTIGO |
| Operator State | WI |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 54409-9019 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 3WN4 |
| Departure City | New London |
| Departure State | WI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 830 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 3WN4 |
| Destination City | New London |
| Destination State | WI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 14 2009 1:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sort |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 27 |
| Runway Length | 1400 |
| Runway Width | 250 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |