Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Rock Springs Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Rock Springs, Wyoming 82901
Tuesady, May 3, 2011 17:40 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the takeoff roll, as the airplane approached 70 knots, it started slowly pulling to the right. The pilot immediately aborted the takeoff and stopped the airplane on the runway using brakes and reverse propeller thrust. The pilot inspected the airplane and found that the right main landing gear tire had blown, and the right aileron had buckled at the aileron midspan hinge location. There were no scuff marks or indentations to indicate that the hinge or area around the hinge had been struck by debris. The hinge was still attached to the aileron, but the attach bracket that connected the hinge to the wing had fractured. Metallurgical examination revealed that the failure of the hinge bracket was the result of overstress forces applied to the hinge. Overstress failure of only the midspan hinge is somewhat unusual when none of the other hinges were damaged, which suggests modal vibration forces concentrated at this particular hinge. It is likely that the flat tire could have induced the vibratory mode in the aileron at the midspan hinge.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The overstress fracture of the right aileron midspan hinge bracket due to modal vibrations created by a deflated right main landing gear tire during the takeoff roll.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/3/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1740 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Rock Springs |
| Event State | WYOMING |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 82901 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 413539N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1090355W |
| Event Location Airport | Rock Springs |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KRKS |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| 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 | 1754 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KRKS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6764 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 5500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.14 |
| 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) | 29888 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 25 2012 7:20AM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N46ME |
| NTSB Number | WPR11LA218 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA46-500TP |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 4697207 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5134 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 1 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 2 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 472 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | C126 |
| Aircraft Owner Name | POPE ELMORE EUGENE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | SAMMAMISH |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98074-3447 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | POPE ELMORE EUGENE |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | SAMMAMISH |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 98074-3447 |
| 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 | KRKS |
| Departure City | Rock Springs |
| Departure State | WY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1740 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KBFI |
| Destination City | Seattle |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 10 2012 3:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 27 |
| Runway Length | 10000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |