21 May 2013: ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL 114 — Ron Keil

21 May 2013: ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL 114 (N5832N) — Ron Keil

No fatalities • Lapeer, MI, United States

Probable cause

The malfunction of the pilot’s seat-latching mechanism due to a bent rod, which allowed the seat to come loose and slide full aft and resulted in a temporary loss of airplane control.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On May 21, 2013, about 1400 eastern daylight time, a Rockwell International 114 airplane, N5832N, struck its left wingtip on the ground during landing at the Dupont-Lapeer Airport (D95), Lapeer, Michigan. The pilot and copilot were not injured and the airplane sustained minor damage. The airplane was registered to a private individual and operated by the pilot under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a test flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The local flight originated from D95 about 1300.

The pilot stated that in October of 2012, he flew the airplane with the owner and the left seat slid full aft during climb-out. He told the owner to have the seat fixed before the next flight. According to Lapeer Aviation, they told the owner to have the seat rails replaced, but the owner declined.

In May of 2013, the pilot flew with the owner again to diagnose auto-pilot system issues. The pilot asked if the owner had the seat fixed, to which the owner replied yes. The seat did not move during the flight.

On the day of the incident, the pilot was conducting a test flight after maintenance was performed on the auto-pilot system. During the one hour test flight, there were no issues with the seat. During landing rollout, the pilot's seat came loose and slid full aft. The right wing came up while the pilots hand was still on the flight controls. He instructed the copilot to take the controls and keep the airplane on the runway. The copilot was able to lower the right wing and land the airplane. They did not feel or hear anything unusual so the pilot taxied the airplane to the hangar. The left wingtip and aileron sustained minor damage during the incident sequence and was not discovered until three weeks later.

The seat rail was examined by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector and it was determined that the metal rod, which latched the seat in place, was bent. When aft pressure was applied to the seat the bent rod would release from the latch hole and allow the seat to come loose.

Contributing factors

  • Inadequate inspection
  • Not inspected
  • cause Malfunction

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 230/11kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.