Travel Air C 4000 N9952
30 August 2014 · Williams, California, United States · Serious injuries
Summary
On 30 August 2014 at about 19:21 local time, a Travel Air C 4000 registered N9952 was involved in an accident near Williams, California, 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.
The record
- Date
- at 19:21
- Classification
- Accident
- Location
- Williams, California, United States
- Nearest airport
- Williams Gliderport (CN12)
- Coordinates
- 39.1636, -122.1317
- Aircraft
- Travel Air C 4000
- Registration
- N9952
- Category
- Airplane
- Year built
- 1929
- Engines
- 1
- Operator
- Not recorded
- Operating rule
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Purpose of flight
- Personal
- Phase of flight
- Not recorded
- Route
- Williams → Williams
- Aircraft damage
- Substantial
- Weather
- VMC
- Light
- Day
- NTSB number
- WPR14LA361
People
1 person was seriously injured.
| On board | Died | Serious | Minor | Uninjured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Probable cause
The failure of the elevator control tube due to corrosion, which resulted in a loss of elevator control and collision with terrain.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.
Read the full NTSB narrative
A witness reported that during takeoff, the airplane reached about 8 ft above ground level, then suddenly pitched down and descended to ground contact. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed a fractured and separated elevator control tube. A viscous liquid was inside the fractured tubing. A mixture analysis found signatures for emulsifiers, surfactants, and amines, which are often found in combination in corrosion-inhibiting compounds. The tubing fracture surfaces had features consistent with torsional overstress. A cross-section of the tube away from the fracture was examined. Corrosion was observed on the inner surfaces of the control tube, as well as significant thinning of the control tube wall thickness, which was 1/2 to 2/3 of the thickness of the least-corroded sections. The thinner wall thickness resulting from the corrosion likely could not support the same loading conditions as the full wall thickness, and likely led to the overstress separation of the control tube.
Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.
Other Travel Air C-4000 accidents
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 Sep 1967 | Travel Air C-4000 | Camas Valley, Oregon, United States | MC MacFarlane | No injuries | - |
Other accidents in this area
| Date | Aircraft | Location | Operator | Outcome | Died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 Oct 2014 | Scaled Composites 339 | Koehn Dry Lake, California, United States | Scaled Composites LLC | Fatal | 1 |
| 7 Jun 2014 | Cessna 180H | Hesperia, California, United States | - | No injuries | - |
| 5 Sep 2014 | Eurocopter AS 350 B3 | Lincoln, California, United States | California Highway Patrol | No injuries | - |
| 27 Apr 2014 | McDonnell Douglas 600N | Adelanto, California, United States | - | Serious injuries | - |
| 13 Jun 2014 | Air Tractor AT 502B | Princeton, California, United States | Michaud Aviation | No injuries | - |
| 27 Apr 2014 | Cessna 210E | Richmond, California, United States | Sanders Aircraft Inc | Fatal | 1 |