- Date
- June 19, 1985, 15:10 local (20:10 UTC)
- Place
- Rocksprings, TX
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N199TASwearingen SA-26AT
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850619029439A
- Case key
- 21557
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
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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
As the acft was climbing thru 14,800' for 19,000', the plt reported a rapid decompression. Two minutes later, he reported that he has lost the tail. Acft impacted in an inverted flat spin and the tail and a section of empennage were found about 3/4 mile away from main wreckage. Investigation revealed that a skin seam had split open along a 54' span in an area where 2 pieces of 'l' shaped channel had been riveted together to form a stringer. Normally the stringer would be made using a single piece of 't' shaped channel. The non-standard stringer had been fabricated during repairs made on the acft following a gear up landing 7 yrs prior to this accident. Analysis revealed that the rivets holding the 'l' channels together and failed in fatigue due to tensile cyclic loading whenever the acft was pressurized. Acft had a history of pressurization problems following the repair that was not properly performed or inspected.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N199TA
- Reported as
- Swearingen SA-26AT
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- T26-110
- Engine
- Garrett TPE-331-1151G, 665 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Executive/Corporate · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Telco Systems, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · January 16, 1985
- Departed
- DRT · Del Rio, TX
- Destination
- F60 · Mcgregory, TX
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- 45
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 4,843 total · 66 in this make and model · 4,624 as pilot in command · 105 in the last 90 days · 28 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 80° at 3 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 5,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DLF, 35 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.