Cirrus SR-20 N27SJ

Summary

On 12 July 2003 at about 14:00 local time, a Cirrus SR-20 registered N27SJ was involved in an accident near Fish Haven, Idaho, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

12 July 2003 at 14:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Fish Haven, Idaho, United States

Nearest airport

J-Lazy-M

Coordinates

42.0167, -111.4286

Aircraft

Cirrus SR-20

Registration

N27SJ

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Ogden → Paris

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA03LA137

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain terrain clearance while maneuvering. Rising terrain, an inadvertent raising of the flaps for unknown reasons, and low altitude were factors.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that he approached the airstrip with the intent to fly over at about 100 feet agl. The pilot reduced power and extended full flaps. When the aircraft was over the approach end of the airstrip, he applied full power and selected 50% flap retraction and pitched up with a slight left turn. The pilot stated that everything seemed fine for about 3-5 seconds when he felt the "sink." The pilot stated that he was aware that he was going down and turned left to avoid heading directly into the rising terrain. The aircraft collided with the terrain about 600 feet from the airstrip. After the accident, it was noted that the flaps were fully retracted and that the flap control switch was in the full up position. The pilot initially reported that when he was climbing out of the aircraft, "...I specifically looked at the Flaps because I knew what had happened by the "Feel;" of the sink. " Later the pilot recalled that on several occasions, while on the ground, and with no radio transmissions, the flaps had retracted from 100% to 0 when the flap setting was selected to 50%. A review of the maintenance records did not indicate that the aircraft was inspected regarding these reports. Maintenance records did indicate that a service bulletin had been accomplished at the previous annual inspection which installed EMI suppression cores on the flap wiring between the proximity switches and the flap circuit card. The Service Bulletin indicated that radio transmissions were inducing voltage into the flap motor proximity switches that caused the flaps to stop, continue past their selected position or reverse. The pilot stated that he did not make a radio transmission at the time, but might have pressed the push-to-talk switch when he meant to press the altitude hold to cancel. Both are located on the control stick. The annual inspection was accomplished approximately 164 hours prior to the accident with no additional reports from the pilot of a problem with the flaps.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.