- Date
- April 22, 2021, 07:40 local (11:40 UTC)
- Place
- New Bedford, MA · Landed safely at airport
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N36911Cessna 402C
- Defining event
- Enroute-descent: Birdstrike
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20210422003969A
- Case key
- 103002
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
An inadvertent collision with a bird during descent, resulting in substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer.
Findings · 1
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot reported that during descent, about 5nm from the destination airport, he saw a bird flying from his left to right side. The bird went into a dive and struck the vertical stabilizer. The pilot did not observe any flight anomalies and continued to the destination airport without incident. Subsequent examination revealed substantial damage to the vertical stabilizer.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N36911
- Reported as
- Cessna 402C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 402C0314
- Built
- 1980
- Airframe hours
- 39,363.9
- Engines
- Continental TSIO520VB, 325 horsepower, reciprocatingContinental TSIO520VB, 325 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Hyannis Air Service, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Hyannis Air Service, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · October 1, 2020 · 53.5 hours before
- Departed
- ACK · Nantucket, MA
- Destination
- EWB · New Bedford, MA
- Equipment
- Stall warning system, ADS-B, Auto-pilot
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
- 67
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- April 6, 2021
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 19,000 total · 17,000 in this make and model · 18,000 as pilot in command · 85 in the last 90 days · 52 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 270° at 18 knots, gusting 26
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,900 ft broken
- Temperature
- 32 °F, dew point 32 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.67 inHg
- Observed at
- EWB
Docket · 2
The files NTSB released with the investigation on August 17, 2021, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.3 MB 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.