- Date
- April 26, 1998, 09:11 local (16:11 UTC)
- Place
- Tulare, CA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N9144SBeech C23
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 6, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19980426007739A
- Case key
- 30073
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 malfunction of the nose wheel steering for undetermined reasons.
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
During the landing rollout, the airplane departed the runway laterally and impacted a ditch 75 to 100 feet off the side of the runway. The pilot stated that, after a minor directional correction to the right, the aircraft would not respond to left steering inputs until full rudder was applied. At that time the aircraft entered an abrupt swerve to the left and departed the runway. The aircraft was damaged to the extent that it was not possible to conduct a high speed taxi test to evaluate aircraft response to nosewheel steering commands.
Factual narrative
On April 26, 1998, at 0911 hours Pacific daylight time, a Beech C23, N9144S, was substantially damaged when it departed the runway laterally and impacted a ditch 75 to 100 feet off the side of the runway at Tulare, California. The private pilot and one passenger were not injured and no property damage was incurred. The flight had departed from Bakersfield, California, on a visual flight to Tulare. No flight plan was filed and visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight.
The pilot stated in his report that, on the landing roll, he applied right rudder to correct his ground path to runway centerline. When he applied left rudder to stop the turn, he got no aircraft response until he had applied full left rudder. At that time the aircraft entered an abrupt left turn from which he could not recover before departing the runway surface.
The aircraft was damaged to the extent that it was not possible to conduct a high speed taxi test to evaluate aircraft response to nosewheel steering commands.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N9144S
- Reported as
- Beech C23
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- M-1767
- Airframe hours
- 2,008
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360 SER, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Kern Charter Service
- Registered owner
- Ted C. Witt
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility; Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 20, 1998 · 42 hours before
- Departed
- L45 · Bakersfield, CA
- Destination
- TLR · CA
- Airport
- TUR · Mefford Field, runway 13, 3,914 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- 41
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 92 total · 9 in this make and model · 44 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 160° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 48 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- KVI, 10 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.