Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Sundance Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73099
Thursday, April 7, 2011 11:45 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane nosed over shortly after takeoff and impacted the runway. The nose landing gear collapsed and the airplane sustained substantial damage to the firewall. A postaccident examination revealed that a stabilator control cable had failed at a turnbuckle as a result of stress corrosion cracking, which compromised the pilot's ability to control the pitch attitude of the airplane. The airplane was within the maintenance inspection requirements at the time of the accident, with the most recent annual inspection being completed about 1 year prior to the accident. The airplane service manual included a special control cable fitting inspection for airplanes in service 15 years or more. Any evidence of corrosion or cracking was cause for replacement according to the service manual. The accident pilot had owned the airplane for about 26 years. During the time he owned the airplane, the control cables had not been replaced. The investigation could not determine when the stress corrosion cracking commenced on the turnbuckle.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of aircraft control due to the failure of the stabilator control cable turnbuckle.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/7/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1145 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Oklahoma City |
| Event State | OKLAHOMA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 73099 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 353607N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0974222W |
| Event Location Airport | Sundance |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | HSD |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1193 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1153 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 145 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PWA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1300 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| 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) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.73 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KPWA 071653Z 20009KT 6SM HZ CLR 21/09 A2973 |
| 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) | 29279 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA-Oklahoma City FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 17 2011 4:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | bowl |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N31407 |
| NTSB Number | CEN11LA275 |
| 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 | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-32-300 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32-7840130 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 5 2010 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 22 |
| Airframe Hours | 3051 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | GARDOCKI JOSEPH E |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | OKLAHOMA CITY |
| Aircraft Owner State | OK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 73162 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | GARDOCKI JOSEPH E |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | OKLAHOMA CITY |
| Operator State | OK |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 73162 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | HSD |
| Departure City | Oklahoma City |
| Departure State | OK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1130 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | HSD |
| Destination City | Oklahoma City |
| Destination State | OK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 3 2011 3:23PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sort |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 17 |
| Runway Length | 5001 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |