- Date
- June 29, 1992, 16:10 local (21:10 UTC)
- Place
- Tuscaloosa, AL
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N910WTCessna 402B
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 11, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920629022719A
- Case key
- 8625
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The improper installation of the emergency exit, by an unknown person, which resulted in its separation, in flight.
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
The airplane was being flown for the first time following repainting. After leveling off at cruise altitude, the pilot heard wind noise from the cabin & noted that the bottom of the emergency exit door was ajar. Shortly afterward it departed the fuselage & struck the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer. An uneventful landing was completed. Examination of the airplane revealed that the exit had been mis-rigged. During the last annual inspection, the seal for the upper cabin door was replaced but, there was no indication of work on the emergency exit. The records for the recent repainting of the airplane did not reveal any work that required the removal of the emergency exit.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N910WT
- Reported as
- Cessna 402B
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 402B0392
- Airframe hours
- 9,910
- Engine
- Continental TSIO-520-E, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Jefferson Airplane, Inc
- Registered owner
- Jefferson Airplane, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 19, 1991 · 76 hours before
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
- 21
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,600 total · 286 in this make and model · 1,541 as pilot in command · 102 in the last 90 days · 54 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 130° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 91 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- TCL, 13 nm away
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 N910WT · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.