Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Birchwood, Alaska 99577
Friday, May 15, 2009 16:00 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airline transport pilot was ferrying the airplane under Title 14, CFR Part 91, to an airport to be painted. During cruise flight, the upper portion of the aft cargo door separated from the airplane, striking the horizontal stabilator. The pilot said he believed the door was latched securely prior to the flight. The flight continued to the destination airport and landed uneventfully. An examination of the fuselage-mounted upper door latch by an FAA inspector showed that the upper portion of the latch striker plate was missing, and the door locking mechanism was not properly aligned with the latch. The FAA inspector noted that it appeared that the missing portion of the latching plate had been missing long before the accident, and should have been found on routine maintenance inspections. The upper portion of the door was not recovered. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the stabilator.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of maintenance personnel to properly maintain the cargo door latch, resulting in an in-flight opening and separation of the cargo door, and substantial damage to the horizontal stabilator when it was struck by remnants of the cargo door.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/15/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1600 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Birchwood |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99577 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 612458N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1493030W |
| 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 | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| 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) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 25688 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Anchorage, FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 7 2009 4:29PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8374T |
| NTSB Number | ANC09CA048 |
| 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 | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-32-301 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32-8106058 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 3 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 12550 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CARLOS SEAN N |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | TOGIAK |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99678-0195 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | CARLOS SEAN N |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | TOGIAK |
| Operator State | AK |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 99678-0195 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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) | Ferry |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MRI |
| Departure City | Merrill Field |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1530 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PABV |
| Destination City | Birchwood |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 7 2009 4:29PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| 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 | -- |