- Date
- May 9, 1989, 10:45 local (16:45 UTC)
- Place
- Star, ID
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N5531NDavis Starship Alpha
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 24, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890509034209A
- Case key
- 41009
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
Failure of the propeller drive belt (stripped teeth). Contributing factors were: strong/gusty winds and the hilly terrain.
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
The plt made a low pass over the airport to check the rwy, then decided not to land. When he applied power to initiate a go-around, teeth stripped off of the prop drive belt. This resulted in an interruption of power to the prop. The plt maneuvered the acft back toward the arpt in strong gusty winds, but was unable to land on the rwy. Subsequently, the acft was extensively damaged when it impacted on a small hill about 100' north of the rwy. The plt rprtd the wind was from the south at 15 gusting 20 KTS.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5531N
- Reported as
- Davis Starship Alpha
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- D-007
- Airframe hours
- 172
- Engine
- Kawasaki TA440F-204, 40 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Gilbert E. Davis
- Registered owner
- Gilbert E Davis
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · March 31, 1989 · 8 hours before
- Departed
- S67 · Nampa, ID
- Airport
- Jump West, runway 5, 4,200 × 50 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
- 47
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 309 total · 170 in this make and model · 266 as pilot in command · 20 in the last 90 days · 14 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 15 knots, gusting 15
- Visibility
- 30 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 12,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 66 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BOI, 16 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.
Other investigations on N5531N · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.