Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 14:20 AST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
About 4 minutes before the accident, the pilot advised an air traffic controller that an aileron cable had broken but that he was continuing to the airport to land. Security video and eyewitness reports revealed that the airplane was at low altitude and appeared to be maintaining level flight until it banked right, descended, and impacted water near the airport in a right-wing-down attitude.
A postaccident examination of the wreckage indicated that all of the airplane’s flight control cables were lubricated except for a fractured section of aileron control direct cable near the doorpost pulley, which was likely not properly lubricated. Most of the cable strands and the doorpost pulley and bearing exhibited severe corrosion near the fracture. When manipulated by hand, the pulley bearing would not rotate due to the corrosion. Analysis of the cable, doorpost pulley, and an exemplar cable from a similar make and model aircraft that had been flown in similar atmospheric conditions (in what is considered a severe corrosion zone) revealed moderate to severe corrosion. It is likely that, during the airplane’s maintenance inspection 6 months before the accident, the mechanic failed to detect the corroded cable due to the difficulty in visually seeing the cable. It is also likely that the doorpost pulley’s failure to rotate resulted in tension on the right aileron control cable, which subsequently caused it to fail due to the severe corrosion. The aircraft manufacturer’s maintenance manual for the airplane gives specific instructions for lubricating and inspecting flight control cables and pulleys every 600 hours or 12 months, whichever comes first, including, in part, examining the cables for corrosion and the pulleys to ensure smooth rotation. After the accident, the manufacturer produced a video emphasizing the importance of properly examining and lubricating the cables.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Maintenance personnel’s improper lubrication of the right direct aileron control cable and failure to detect the severe corrosion of the cable during a maintenance inspection, which resulted in the in-flight failure of the cable, the pilot’s subsequent inability to maintain aircraft control, and the airplane’s impact with terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/25/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1420 |
| Event Time Zone | Atlantic Standard Time |
| Event City | San Juan |
| Event State | PUERTO RICO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 00936 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 182719N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0660617W |
| Event Location Airport | Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | TJIG |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 9 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1422 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TJIG |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 9 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4000 |
| 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) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 24 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 110 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.03 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 32433 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Southern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 19 2014 3:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N73115 |
| NTSB Number | ERA12FA484 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 172M |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17267271 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | 4 |
| 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 | BACO-FELICIANO FRANCISCO J |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | GUAYNABO |
| Aircraft Owner State | PR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 00969-3209 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | BACO-FELICIANO FRANCISCO J |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | GUAYNABO |
| Operator State | PR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 00969-3209 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | TJAB |
| Departure City | Arecibo |
| Departure State | PR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1350 |
| Departure Time Zone | AST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | TJIG |
| Destination City | San Juan |
| Destination State | PR |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 19 2014 3:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 09 |
| Runway Length | 5542 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |