- Date
- January 24, 2004, 13:30 local (18:30 UTC)
- Place
- Prairieville, MI
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N1087EAeronca 7AC
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 1, 2004
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- Federal Aviation Administration: Grand Rapids FSDO
- FAA report
- 20040124000929A
- Case key
- 58721
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 failure to maintain altitude/clearance from the transmission wires during final approach. Factors to the accident were the unmarked transmission wires and their support poles.
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 impacted three transmission lines while on final approach to a frozen lake. The accident occurred when a flight of two airplanes was attempting to land. The accident airplane was following the other airplane during the final approach to the lake. The pilot of the preceding airplane announced over the radio "watch for wires" just prior to a successful landing. The accident pilot stated his airplane's landing skis caught all three transmission wires as he attempted to climb away from the obstacle. He reported the landing skis collapsed during the subsequent hard landing and the airplane slid nose-down for approximately 100 feet. The transmission wires were not marked and their support poles were positioned in a forested area adjacent to the lakeshore.
Factual narrative
On January 24, 2004, at 1330 eastern standard time, an Aeronca 7AC, N1087E, piloted by a private pilot, sustained substantial damage during an in-flight collision with electrical transmission wires and subsequently an ice-covered Pine Lake, near Prairieville, Michigan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was operating under the provisions of 14 CFR Part 91 without a flight plan. The pilot sustained serious injuries and his passenger was uninjured. The local flight departed the Plainwell Municipal Airport (61D) at 1315.
According to a pilot interview and his written statement, the accident occurred when a flight of two airplanes was attempting to land on the frozen lake. The accident airplane was following the other airplane during final approach to the lake. The pilot of the preceding airplane announced over the radio "watch for wires" just prior to successfully landing on the lake. The accident pilot stated his airplane's landing skis caught all three transmission wires as he attempted to climb away from the obstacle. He reported the landing skis collapsed during the subsequent hard landing and the airplane slid nose-down for approximately 100 feet.
The accident pilot stated the transmission wires were not marked and their support poles were positioned in a forested area adjacent to the lakeshore.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N1087E
- Reported as
- Aeronca 7AC
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 7AC-4640
- Airframe hours
- 2,880
- Engine
- Continental A-65-8, 65 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 1, 2003 · 37 hours before
- Departed
- 61D · Plainwell, MI
- Destination
- Prairieville, MI
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
- 56
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Last flight review
- May 13, 2001
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 886 total · 250 in this make and model · 886 as pilot in command · 25 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 18 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.17 inHg
- Observed at
- AZO, 15 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.