Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Skagit Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Burlington, Washington 98233
Tuesady, June 4, 2013 9:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the landing roll, the airplane began to veer right, and the pilot applied left rudder and left braking action to align the airplane with the runway; however, both actions were ineffective. The airplane departed the right side of the runway and impacted an airport sign and a ditch. Postaccident examination of the left rudder bar assembly found that it had failed due to a fatigue crack. A rusted brown oxidized area near the center of the crack and surface features consistent with slow-growth fatigue indicated that the crack had been growing incrementally over a period of years. A review of the manufacturer’s periodic inspection checklist, maintenance manual, and Service Letter No. 671 indicated that the rudder bar assembly should be inspected every 100 hours specifically for cracks in the area where the airplane’s rudder bar failed. If maintenance personnel had inspected the airplane in accordance with these documents, the crack likely would have been found and the accident prevented.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the rudder bar assembly during landing due to a fatigue crack. Contributing to the accident was the failure of maintenance personnel to perform an adequate inspection of the rudder bar assembly.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/4/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Burlington |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98233 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 482829N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1222529W |
| Event Location Airport | Skagit Regional Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | BVS |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 145 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 935 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BVS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 145 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| 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) | 30.16 |
| 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) | 32709 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 17 2014 6:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | strj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5808U |
| NTSB Number | WPR13LA262 |
| 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-28-140 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-26637 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2150 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 25 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3479 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MORRISSEY WILLIAM T TRUSTEE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | FRIDAY HARBOR |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98250-8477 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | MORRISSEY WILLIAM T TRUSTEE |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | FRIDAY HARBOR |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 98250-8477 |
| 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 | FHR |
| Departure City | Friday Harbor |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 912 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | BVS |
| Destination City | Burlington |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 17 2014 6:19PM |
| User who most recently changed record | strj |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 11 |
| Runway Length | 5477 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |