Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Ellington Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Houston, Texas 77059
Saturday, September 24, 2011 13:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After landing, the pilot was cleared to taxi his tailwheel-equipped airplane to the ramp and was aware that another airplane would be in front of him as he taxied. As he crossed over an active runway onto the taxiway, he steered straight ahead and did not perform any s-turns to maintain visual contact of the airplane ahead of him. As he cleared the runway, he looked down to change his radio frequency and suddenly realized that he needed to look out for the airplane in front of him. When he looked up, he saw the right wingtip of the other airplane and did not have time to stop before he collided into its tail. The collision resulted in substantial damage to the lower right wing spar. The other airplane sustained substantial damage to the entire tail section including the vertical stabilizer, the rudder, the horizontal stabilizer, and the empennage.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot’s failure to maintain visual contact while taxiing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/24/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Houston |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 77059 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 293616N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0950919W |
| Event Location Airport | Ellington Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | EFD |
| 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 | 1550 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | EFD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 32 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.02 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 28945 |
| NTSB Notification Source | HOU FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 29 2011 2:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | yeal |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
||
|---|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
Aircraft #2 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N54087 | N72566 |
| NTSB Number | CEN11CA664A | CEN11CA664B |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Unknown | Unknown |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- | -- |
| Damage | Substantial | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BOEING | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | E75 | 172R |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 75-1148 | 17281012 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | HISTORY FLIGHT INC | RHM HOLDINGS LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2711 CENTERVILLE RD STE 400 | 9143 PENN MANOR CT |
| Aircraft Owner City | WILMINGTON | HOUSTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19808-1645 | 77055-7419 |
| Operator is an individual? | No | No |
| Operator Name | HISTORY FLIGHT INC | RHM HOLDINGS LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 2711 CENTERVILLE RD STE 400 | 9143 PENN MANOR CT |
| Operator City | WILMINGTON | HOUSTON |
| Operator State | DE | TX |
| Operator Country | USA | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 19808-1645 | 77055-7419 |
| Operator Code | -- | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No | 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 | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | -- | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | EFD | EFD |
| Departure City | Houston | Houston |
| Departure State | TX | TX |
| Departure Country | USA | USA |
| Departure Time | -- | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | EFD | EFD |
| Destination City | Houston | Houston |
| Destination State | TX | TX |
| Destination Country | USA | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 29 2011 2:42PM | Sep 29 2011 2:41PM |
| User who most recently changed record | yeal | yeal |
| Since inspection or accident | -- | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- | -- |
| Runway Width | -- | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No | No |
| Medical Flight | -- | -- |