Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Bremerton Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bremerton, Washington
Wednesday, April 30, 2014 10:55 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On April 30, 2014, about 1055 Pacific daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Pulsar XP, N452PC, sustained substantial damage on landing at Bremerton National Airport (PWT), Bremerton, Washington. The pilot-owner was not injured. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no FAA flight plan was filed for the flight.
According to the pilot, he was also the builder of the kit airplane. The airplane was based at PWT. The pilot took off about 1000 for a local flight. While airborne, he received a radio call from Avian Flight Center, a fixed base operator (FBO) at PWT. FBO personnel informed him that they had been made aware that a passer-by had seen something fall from an airplane, which was subsequently identified as a nose landing gear (NLG), and that the FBO believed that the NLG possibly belonged to N452PC. The pilot returned to PWT and conducted a flyby, to allow the FBO personnel to examine the airplane. They confirmed that N452PC had lost its NLG. The FBO then coordinated with the pilot to postpone landing until the airport could be closed to other traffic, and fire/rescue personnel could be present. After waiting about 30 minutes, the pilot was given permission to land. He landed with full flaps, as slowly as he could. The airplane landed normally, settled on the NLG strut, and stopped on the runway.
According to the pilot, he completed constructing and first flew the airplane in 1998, and had put about 811 hours on it since then. The airplane was equipped with a Rotax 912UL series engine. The pilot held a private pilot certificate, and had a total flight experience of about 883 hours.
About 2 days after the accident, the pilot was informed by another Pulsar operator that there were 5 previous events of NLG separations on Pulsar airplanes. Reportedly, a new NLG fitting had been designed by another owner to eliminate the underlying problem, which was traced to a corroded attach bolt that was difficult to access or inspect. Also reportedly, these failures only affected Pulsar "Series 1" airplanes
The 1055 PWT automated weather observation included winds from 030 degrees at 8 knots, visibility 10 miles, clear skies, temperature 21 degrees C, dew point 6 degrees C, and an altimeter setting of 30.38 inches of mercury.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/30/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1055 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Bremerton |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Bremerton |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PWT |
| 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 | 444 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1055 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PWT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 30 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.38 |
| 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) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NWM ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 7 2014 7:40PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N452PC |
| NTSB Number | WPR14LA179 |
| 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 | COULTER HUGH CLARKE |
| Aircraft Model | PULSAR XP SERIES I |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 452 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | -- |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 811 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | COULTER HUGH CLARKE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | PORT ORCHARD |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 983669773 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | COULTER HUGH CLARKE |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | PORT ORCHARD |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 983669773 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | PWT |
| Departure City | Bremerton |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1000 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | PWT |
| Destination City | Bremerton |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 8 2014 10:57AM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | 6000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |