# NTSB CHI03IA108: Piper PA-31T1, N855JL, Wheeling, IL, April 17, 2003 - Type: NTSB incident investigation - Classification: Incident · No injuries · Incident investigation · Final report - Date: April 17, 2003, 05:51 local (10:51 UTC) - Place: Wheeling, IL - Coordinates: 42.114166, -87.90139 - Nearby events: https://openairdocs.org/map.md?lat=42.1142&lon=-87.9014&mi=10 - Phase of flight: [Approach](https://openairdocs.org/ntsb-phases/500) (OpenAirDocs' grouping) - Highest injury: No injuries - Injuries: 2 uninjured - Status: Completed, report June 30, 2004 - Report: Approved by Office Director - Parties: Federal Aviation Adminstration - NTSB case key (mKey): 56844 - NTSB case page: https://web.ntsb.gov/investigations/?ntsbnumber=CHI03IA108 - NTSB report (PDF, downloads): https://data.ntsb.gov/carol-repgen/api/Aviation/ReportMain/GenerateNewestReport/56844/pdf - Page: https://openairdocs.org/ntsb/CHI03IA108 ## Probable cause The pilot's failure to maintain obstacle clearance and the inadequate glidepath which resulted in a collision with a utility pole. Contributing factors were the lack of experience in the incident airplane by the left seat pilot, the visual illusion of a narrower runway, inadequate crew coordination of both pilots, and the improper use of aircraft by the flying club's management. The unlighted utility pole and the civil twilight light conditions were additional factors. ## Sequence of events In NTSB's coding before 2008 (https://www.ntsb.gov/GILS/Documents/codman.pdf). - In flight collision with object, approach - vfr pattern - final approach - lack of experience, other crewmember (contributing factor) - object - utility pole (contributing factor) - clearance - not maintained, flightcrew (cause) - proper glidepath - not maintained, flightcrew (cause) - visual illusion, other crewmember (contributing factor) - light condition - dawn (contributing factor) - crew/group coordination - inadequate, flightcrew (contributing factor) - improper use of equipment/aircraft, company/operator management (contributing factor) ## Analysis The flying club operated rental airplane was on short final approach to the destination airport when it impacted a 25-foot high unlighted utility pole 750 feet from the landing threshold. The left seat pilot's business flight was to pick up two passengers and then proceed to another destination. The electrical lines spanning the utility poles were equipped with red and white balls with reflective tape. Civil twilight with visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The power line poles were not equipped with obstruction lights, but the lower traffic light poles had obstruction lights. The presence of poles was cited in the Airport Facility Directory, a publication to be used by pilots in flight planning. The landing runway was the shortest and narrowest of the runways at the airport. The Instrument Flying Handbook states this can create an illusion that the aircraft is at a higher altitude than it actually is, especially when runway length-to-width relationships are comparable. The airplane was piloted by a club member/instructor seated in the left seat with the club's president in the right seat who was a rated pilot and certified flight instructor. The left seat pilot was reported by both to be the flying pilot with the club's president working the radios and performing non-flying pilot duties as he did on previous flights. The right seat pilot stated that during the approach, the radar altimeter indicated an altitude of 200 feet above ground level two miles from the landing runway. At that time the right seat pilot reportedly pulled on the yoke and said no lower until we are at the "fence." A few seconds later after the right seat pilot released the controls, he felt a "bump." During an interview, the left seat pilot said that he had not been checked out in the incident airplane and could not cite what requirements for such a checkout would be. He had a total flight time of 9 hours in the incident airplane at the time of the incident. He initially stated that the club's president was serving as a "flight instructor, safety pilot, or whatever." The club's president reported a total flight time of 193 hours in the incident airplane. He later stated that the flight as others previously through the flying club were charter flights. The flying club did not hold a Federal Aviation Administration issued air carrier certificate. ## Factual narrative HISTORY OF FLIGHT On April 17, 2003, at 0551 central daylight time, a Piper PA-31T1, N855JL, operated by Travel Express Aviation, L.L.C. (TEA), as a rental airplane, impacted an unlighted utility pole during a visual approach to runway 06 at Palwaukee Municipal Airport (PWK), Wheeling, Illinois. The airplane landed and veered off the right side of runway 06. The airplane received minor damage to the right main landing gear. No ground injuries were reported from the power lines and poles that fell onto a north-south road along the southwestern edge of the airport. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the incident. The 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 business flight was not operating on a flight plan. Both commercial pilots were uninjured. The flight originated from DuPage Airport (DPA), West Chicago, Illinois, at 0535, in order to pick up two passengers at PWK before departing to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During an interview on April 17, 2003 with the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Investigator-In-Charge (IIC) and two inspectors from the Federal Aviation Administrations (FAA's) DPA Flight Standards District Office (FSDO), the left seat pilot said that he has been a member of TEA for about 4-5 years. He joined the club after selling his Cessna 310, which he used for his business flights. He said that he was checked out in the club's Cessna 172, Cessna 182, Piper Warrior, Piper Archer, Piper Arrow, and Piper Saratoga. He was not checked out in the club's Mooney, Aztec, Cessna 414, and the incident airplane. He said that there are flight time requirements and required training at Flight Safety International, followed by a checkout by a club instructor, in order to fly the incident airplane. He could not cite what these requirements were. He said that the right seat pilot and one other pilot, whose last name he could not recall, were checked out in the incident airplane. He has flown a total of about 12-15 times and only 2 times in the incident airplane into PWK. He woke up at 0430, arrived at DPA at 0500, and departed about 0530-0540 en route to PWK with the right seat pilot to pick up two passengers who were employed by the left seat pilot's company. They were then going to fly to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He could not recall the name or the identifier of the destination airport. He said that he called flight service to obtain a weather briefing and no flight plan was filed for the visual flight rules flight. He said that the flight was a 14 CFR Part 91 flight. He said that he used an Airplane Owners and Pilots Association airport facility directory in planning the flight. The left seat pilot said that he made the determination to land on runway 6 based upon the wind conditions, which he said, were 040 degrees at 15 knots gusting to 22 knots. The approach was a 4-5 mile straight in visual approach to runway 6. When asked why he didn't see the power line, he said that he could not see the power lines when they activated the runway lights to high intensity from the airplane. He added that there were no balls or lights on top of the poles supporting the power lines. He said that they were focusing on the runway at the time of impact with the power line and when they did hit the power line it sounded like a "thud." When asked in what capacity the right seat pilot was acting in during the flight, he responded by saying that the right seat pilot was working the radios as he did on previous flights and that he was the non-flying pilot. He also said that the right seat pilot was serving as a "flight instructor, safety pilot, or whatever." He said that runway 6 did not have visual approach slope indicator lights. When asked if he disagreed with the fact that this flight was a charter flight due to the number of his previous business flights in club airplanes without a checkout in the those airplanes, he responded by saying that he was not performing a charter flight but was only performing a flight for his business. He also said that he could not speak for the right seat pilot. He said what the airplane's wet hourly rental rate and the right seat pilot’s hourly and daily rates were. He has flown with the right seat pilot on overnight trips using club airplanes and cited one example, which was a trip to Boca Raton, Florida, where the right seat pilot stayed overnight with a friend in Fort Meyers, Florida. He has also flown similar flights for business to Detroit, Ohio, and Springfield, Illinois. The left seat pilot stated the following in an NTSB Pilot/Operator Aircraft Report, dated April 24, 2003: "I am a member of Travel Express flying club which has several airplanes available for member’s use after proper check-out and meeting all insurance requirements. One of the club aircraft is a Piper Cheyenne. I wished to be checked-out in the Cheyenne and was considering a potential purchase of this aircraft for the company that I work for. I had made arrangements for an instructional and demonstration flight of the Cheyenne a week or so in advance of the actual flight. I had taken one previous familiarization, instructional flight in the aircraft. This particular flight was to be from DuPage to Palwaukee to pick up two of my co-workers and then on to Pittsburgh. I checked the approach plate and airport diagram for both Palwaukee and Pittsburgh for familiarization. I checked with Flight Service for a weather briefing at about 5:20 am for the flight to Palwaukee then on to Pittsburgh. I met my flight instructor, [the right seat pilot] at DuPage about 5:30 am. [The right seat pilot] had checked equipment, charts and flight manual. [The right seat pilot] re-checked weather and [the right seat pilot] filed an IFR flight plan for the trip from Palwaukee to Pittsburgh. The [right seat pilot] and I did a walk around and a preflight of the aircraft and then got into the aircraft for the leg to Palwaukee. I then sat in the left seat... Since this was an instructional flight, I was to operate the controls and the [right seat pilot] was to handle radios. ...En route we listened to Palwaukee AWOS and rechecked winds. We agreed on using runway 6 due to winds. [The right seat pilot] radioed out intentions to land on runway 6 5 miles out as the tower was still closed. I set up for approach by reducing power and extending 1 notch flaps and extending the gear. [The right seat pilot] used the mike to activate the runway lights for [runway 06]. [Runway 06] is narrow and the lights quite bright against the dark ground. The approach appeared normal until the right main gear struck a power pole at the approach end of [runway 06]. We continued the approach and touched down beyond the displaced threshold on the centerline. After crossing the [runway 06/16] intersection the damaged gear caused the aircraft to veer right. [The right seat pilot] shut down the engines, radioed we were OK..." The left seat pilot was listed as the second pilot on his NTSB Pilot/Operator Aircraft Report. The report contains a section titled Second Pilot Responsibilities At The Time Of The Accident. The choices afforded in this section are: 1. Co-Pilot, 2. Dual Student, 3. Safety Pilot, 4. Check Pilot, 5. None (Pilot-Rated Passenger). The left seat pilot checked: 2. Dual Student. The right seat pilot stated the following in an NTSB Pilot/Operator Aircraft Report, dated April 24, 2003: "At 5:00 a.m. on Thursday Morning [the left seat pilot] and myself checked weather utilizing both the Internet web sites Intellicast.com and adds.noaa.aviation weather.gov and by calling a FSS Briefer. The weather at DuPage and the local area was VFR. The FAR part 91 flight departed from Dupage at 5:30 a.m. with only two of us onboard on a northwesterly heading going around the class B airspace to an altitude of 1800 ft MSL. At 15 miles from Palwaukee I obtained the current AWOS information ## Aircraft - Registration: [N855JL](https://openairdocs.org/deregistered/N855JL-2026-01-23), registration cancelled 2026-01-23, S/N 31T-8104045, built 1981 (OpenAirDocs) - Reported make and model: Piper PA-31T1 - Registry model: [Piper PA-31T1](https://openairdocs.org/model/piper-pa-31t1) (registry code 7103126) (OpenAirDocs) - Registry engine: [U/A Canada PT6A series](https://openairdocs.org/engine/u-a-canada-pt6a-series) (registry code 61508, turbo-prop) (OpenAirDocs) - Category: Airplane - Serial number: 31T-8104045 - Airframe hours: 9958 - Engines: Pratt & Whitney PT-6A-11 500 horsepower turbo prop - Damage: Minor damage - Flight: Business, Part 91 - Operator: Travel Express Aviation, L.L.C - Registered owner: Capsonic Automotive Inc. - Airworthiness certificate: Standard, Normal - Last inspection: 100 hour, March 29, 2003, 15 hours before - Departed: DPA, West Chicago, IL - Destination: PWK, Wheeling, IL - Airport: PWK, Palwaukee Municipal, runway 06, 3,652 × 50 ft, asphalt ## Flight crew As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names. - Pilot; age 52; injuries: none; commercial, flight instructor; airplane ratings: multi-engine land, single-engine land; instrument ratings: airplane; medical: class 3, valid medical--w/ waivers/lim; seat: left; flight hours: 1,572 total, 9 in this make and model, 1,333 as pilot in command, 18 in the last 90 days, 46 in the last 30 days, 0 in the last 24 hours - Pilot; age 38; injuries: none; flight instructor, commercial; airplane ratings: multi-engine land, single-engine land; instrument ratings: airplane; medical: class 3, valid medical--no waivers/lim.; last flight review December 28, 2001; seat: right; flight hours: 1,966 total, 193 in this make and model, 1,836 as pilot in command, 114 in the last 90 days, 30 in the last 30 days, 4 in the last 24 hours ## Weather - Conditions: Visual (VMC) - Wind: 40° at 13 knots, gusting 19 - Visibility: 10 statute miles - Lowest ceiling: none - Temperature: 37 °F, dew point 32 °F - Altimeter: 29.87 inHg - Observed at: PWK ## FAA reports on this event (1) The FAA's own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date (OpenAirDocs). - [Incident 20030417010139I](https://openairdocs.org/incident/20030417010139I), Apr 17, 2003: Piper PA31T1, Chicago/Wheelin, IL, Minor damage. (-23) During approach to landing at the palwaukee airport at sunrise, the aircraft was flown at significantly low altitude to cause impact with power lines off… From the NTSB's public API. Aircraft are matched to registry aircraft by N-number and event date, checked against the reported serial number, make and model; the registry's history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model. --- OpenAirDocs.org is an independent research project of [Contrail Labs](https://contraillabs.com/). It is not affiliated with the FAA or the NTSB. Source documents are U.S. government works in the public domain.