- Date
- May 25, 1994, 14:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Injuries
- 4 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N8527QCessna A185F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 24, 1995
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19940525012579A
- Case key
- 3390
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 pilot's inadequate compensation for wind conditions, and his failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll. Factors were the crosswinds and gusts prevailing at the airport at the time of the accident.
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 landing on runway 27. The pilot reported the surface winds to be from the south at 7 to 10 knots, with gusts to 15 knots. During the landing rollout, a gust of wind was encountered. The pilot lost directional control, and the aircraft departed the runway surface to the right. The aircraft then ground looped. The pilot reported no mechanical malfunction or failure with the aircraft.
Factual narrative
On May 25, 1994, at 1430 eastern daylight time, a Cessna A185F, N8527Q, was substantially damaged during a loss of directional control while landing at the Horace Williams Airport in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The airline transport pilot and three passengers were not injured. The aircraft was operated under 14 CFR Part 91 by the pilot. Visual meteorological conditions existed at the time, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the personal flight. The flight originated in Columbia, South Carolina at 1330.
The pilot reported the following: He landed the airplane on runway 27 following a normal approach. During the landing rollout, a gust of wind was encountered, which turned the aircraft sideways (toward the south). The aircraft departed the runway surface and ground looped. Structural damage to the right wing, right horizontal stabilizer, and right, main landing gear resulted. He reported no mechanical malfunction or failure with the aircraft.
The Horace Williams Airport does not have weather reporting capability. The pilot estimated the winds at the time of the accident to be out of the south at 7 to 10 knots, with gusts to 15 knots. The Raleigh-Durham International Airport, located about 13 miles east-southeast of Horace Williams, was reporting surface winds from 230 degrees at 10 knots, with no gusts, about 20 minutes after the accident.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N8527Q
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18503726
- Airframe hours
- 2,020
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Coffman, Edward K.
- Registered owner
- North State Air Service, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Provisional (Special); Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · April 1, 1994 · 38 hours before
- Departed
- CUB · Columbia, SC
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- W52 · Horace Williams, runway 27, 4,005 × 75 ft, asphalt
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 43
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 4,000 total · 2,000 in this make and model · 3,850 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 84 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- RDU, 14 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.