Rockwell 500-S N1187G

Summary

On 19 January 2002 at about 01:15 local time, a Rockwell 500-S registered N1187G, operated by Richard W. Boehlke, was involved in an accident near Baker City, Oregon, United States. 3 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

19 January 2002 at 01:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Baker City, Oregon, United States

Nearest airport

Baker City Municipal (BKE)

Coordinates

44.8306, -117.7606

Aircraft

Rockwell 500-S

Registration

N1187G

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Richard W. Boehlke

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tacoma → Hailey

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

SEA02LA034

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's excessive descent rate at the time the aircraft came in contact with the runway during a night precautionary landing. Factors include extensive airframe ice accumulation, ice accumulation on the flight compartment windshield, ambient conditions conducive to airframe icing, a dark night, and a snow bank along the edge of the runway.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

While en route on an IFR flight plan, the aircraft encountered ambient conditions that resulted in extensive ice accumulation on the airframe structure. Because the pilot was unable to maintain the required minimum altitude on the next leg of the flight, he elected to divert into a nearby airport. After getting below the overcast clouds, he shot a visual approach on a very dark night while looking through a partially ice-covered windshield. During the attempted landing, the pilot allowed the aircraft to contact the runway at a descent rate high enough to cause permanent structural damage to the aircraft's fuselage, and to permanently force the left main landing gear oleo strut to its fully compressed limit. The force of the impact also caused the tire support rim on the nose wheel to fracture into several pieces that were later recovered from the runway. After the rim separated from the main nose wheel drum, the drum portion of the wheel rolled along inside the tire. As the landing roll continued, the aircraft departed the runway and plowed through an 18 inch-high snow bank created by snow that had be removed from the runway. As the aircraft passed through the snow bank, the nose gear strut down-lock failed, and the nose gear was forced backwards and up into the wheel well. The collapse of the nose gear strut allowed the belly skin just aft of the nose gear well to come in contact with the snow bank, which resulted in the belly skin being pushed inward around the fuselage bulkheads.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.