SEA00LA016

NTSB accident investigation · Aero Commander 680 · Bremerton, WA · October 24, 1999

Accident · No injuriesLimited investigationFinal report
Date
October 24, 1999, 14:08 local (21:08 UTC)
Place
Bremerton, WA
Injuries
2 uninjured
Damage
Substantial damage
Phase of flight
Landing
Aircraft
N1231Aero Commander 680
Weather
Visual (VMC) · Day
Status
Completed · report January 18, 2001
Report
Approved by Office Director
FAA report
19991024040439A
Case key
47727

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

Loss of directional control by the student pilot during landing. Factors include inadequate remedial action by the flight instructor, and an airport sign that was struck by the airplane, collapsing the left main landing gear.

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.

Loss of control - on ground/waterLanding - roll
Directional control - not maintainedDual studentCause
Remedial action - inadequatePilot in command(cfi)Factor
On ground/water encounter with terrain/waterLanding - roll
Object - airport sign/markerFactor

Analysis

The student pilot and flight instructor were conducting full-stop landing practice in the multi-engine airplane. The airplane drifted off the runway, struck a taxiway marker, and collapsed the left main landing gear. In a telephone interview, the student acknowledged that he had lost directional control of the airplane during landing.

Factual narrative

On October 24, 1999, at 1408 Pacific daylight time, an Aero Commander 680, N1231, registered to Washington Aeroprogress, Inc., Seattle, Washington, sustained substantial damage after a loss of directional control during the landing roll at Bermerton airport, Bermerton, Washington. The flight instructor and his multi-engine student were uninjured. The flight initiated at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington as a 14 CFR 91 instructional flight about one hour before the accident. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. No flight plan was filed for the flight, and there was no report of an ELT actuating.

The pilots were conducting full-stop landing practice, landing on runway 01. The airplane drifted off the runway, struck a taxiway marker, and collapsed the left main landing gear. In a telephone interview, the student acknowledged that he had lost directional control of the airplane during landing.

The student pilot asserted that he was the new unregistered owner of the airplane, that the flight instructor was on board as a guest pilot with no pilot responsibilities, and that the airplane was owned and operated by a stateless "protected private foreign company, unlimited conscience objector," under an apostille of the convention de La Haye of October 5, 1961. There was no record of the student pilot holding either a student pilot certificate, pilot's certificate, or airman's medical. The student pilot returned an unsigned NTSB form 6120.1/2; the flight instructor did not return a pilot/operator statement.

Aircraft

Registration
N1231
Reported as
Aero Commander 680
Category
Airplane
Serial number
680534203
Engine
Lycoming GSO-480, 340 horsepower, reciprocating
Damage
Substantial damage
Flight
Instructional · Part 91
Operator
Dale Smith
Registered owner
Washington Aeroprogress Inc
Airworthiness certificate
Standard, Normal
Departed
BFI · Seattle, WA
Destination
PWT
Airport
PWT · Bremerton National, runway 1, 6,200 × 150 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
60
Certificate
Commercial
Airplane ratings
Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
Instrument ratings
Airplane
Medical
Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
Seat
Right
Flight hours
1,295 total

Weather

Conditions
Visual (VMC) · Day
Wind
30° at 7 knots
Visibility
10 statute miles
Lowest ceiling
None
Temperature
55 °F, dew point 43 °F
Altimeter
30.00 inHg
Observed at
KPW

FAA reports on this event · 1

The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.