- Date
- December 29, 1999, 16:00 local (22:00 UTC)
- Place
- Oakland, AL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Takeoff
- Aircraft
- N3276ACessna 170B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 18, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19991229037209A
- Case key
- 48390
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
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Probable cause
The pilot's failure to verify that his seat was locked prior to takeoff. The subsequent bounce on takeoff enabled the seat to shift aft thereby reducing the pilot's access to controls leading to the inadvertent loss of control and ground impact with trees. Contributing factors were rough and uneven runway surface and the trees.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
According to the pilot, as the airplane accelerated for the takeoff, the landing gear rolled over a rut in the runway surface and the airplane bounced. When the airplane bounced, the pilot reported that his seat moved rearward, he could not reach the flight controls, and he lost control of the airplane. The airplane veered off the left side of the runway and collided with trees. An examination of the runway surface revealed that the clay and gravel runway had ruts in the center of the takeoff area. The examination of the airplane seat assembly revealed that both the seat rails and the seat locking pins were in serviceable condition.
Factual narrative
On December 29, 1999, at 1600 central standard time, a Cessna 170B, N3276A, collided with trees during an attempted takeoff from a sod strip near Oakland, Alabama. The personal flight was operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91 with no flight plan filed. Visual weather conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The airplane was substantially damaged, and the private pilot was not injured. The flight departed Oakland, Alabama, at 1600.
According to the pilot, as the airplane accelerated for the takeoff, the landing gear rolled over a rut in the runway surface and the airplane bounced. When the airplane bounced, the pilot reported that his seat moved rearward, he could not reach the flight controls, and he lost control of the airplane. The airplane veered off the left side of runway 12 and collided with trees.
An examination of the runway surface revealed that the clay and gravel runway had ruts in the center of the takeoff area. The examination of the airplane seat assembly revealed that both the seat rails and the seat locking pins were in serviceable condition.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3276A
- Reported as
- Cessna 170B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 25920
- Airframe hours
- 1,607
- Engine
- Continental C-145, 145 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Thomas M. Walker III
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · January 1, 1999 · 14 hours before
- Airport
- Private, runway 12, 2,000 × 40 ft, grass/turf
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 50
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 2,628 total · 48 in this make and model · 2,508 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- MSL
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 11, 2000, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 594 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N3276A · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.