- Date
- July 6, 2000, 09:40 local (13:40 UTC)
- Place
- North Haven, ME
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N756HKCessna U206G
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 19, 2001
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 20000706039789A
- Case key
- 51283
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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Probable cause
The pilot's failure to perform a go-around. Factors related to the accident were the pilot's lack of total flight experience in make and model, and the short landing area.
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
While landing on a 1,045-foot long hard packed gravel runway, the airplane touched down, bounced, and began to 'float.' After the airplane touched down again, the pilot applied the brakes and raised the flaps in an attempt to stop. The airplane continued off the departure end of the runway, crossed a road, struck a boulder, and nosed over into a swamp, coming to rest inverted. After the accident skid marks were observed in the gravel that started with 20 feet of runway surface remaining. The two passengers in the airplane stated after the accident that they were coming in 'hot and fast.' According to the airplane operating handbook, the total landing distance to clear a 50-foot obstacle, using the specified technique for short field landings, at maximum gross weight, at sea level, and at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, was 1,415 feet. The pilot reported 8 total hours of flight experience in make and model.
Factual narrative
On July 6, 2000, about 0940 Eastern Daylight Time, a Cessna U206G, N756HK, operated by Telford Aviation, Inc., was substantially damaged while landing at the Witherspoons Airport (ME41), North Haven, Maine. The certificated airline transport pilot and two passengers were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed for the on-demand air taxi flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 135.
According to the pilot, the flight had originated at the Knox County Regional Airport (RKD), Rockland, Maine, and proceeded uneventfully to ME41. While landing at ME41, on Runway 24, a 1,045-foot long hard packed gravel runway, the pilot reduced the engine power to idle at an altitude of about 100 feet above the ground. The pilot then felt he was "committed" to land and that a go-around with full flaps was unsafe. The airplane touched down, bounced, and began to "float." After the airplane touched down again, the pilot applied the brakes and raised the flaps in an attempt to stop. The airplane continued off the departure end of the runway, crossed a road, struck a boulder, and nosed over into a swamp, coming to rest inverted.
When the runway was examined after the accident, a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector observed skid marks in the gravel that started with 20 feet of runway surface remaining. The inspector also noted that there were trees located at the approach end of the runway and beyond the swamp where the airplane came to rest.
The two passengers in the airplane stated to the FAA inspector after the accident that they were coming in "hot and fast."
According to the airplane operating handbook, the total landing distance to clear a 50-foot obstacle, using the specified technique for short field landings, at maximum gross weight, at sea level, and at a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, was 1,415 feet.
The pilot reported 8 total hours of flight experience in make and model.
The RKD weather at 0935, reported winds from 300 degrees at 11 knots, gusting to 15 knots.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N756HK
- Reported as
- Cessna U206G
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 20604102
- Airframe hours
- 6,267
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-F48B, 285 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Telford Aviation Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · June 27, 2000 · 22 hours before
- Departed
- RKD · Rockland, ME
- Destination
- ME41
- Airport
- ME41 · Witherspoons Airport, runway 24, 1,045 × 40 ft, gravel
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 63
- Certificates
- Flight engineer, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 16,569 total · 8 in this make and model · 7,958 as pilot in command · 17 in the last 90 days · 13 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 300° at 11 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 50 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- RKD, 11 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.