CHI04LA096 · Swearingen SA226-T
Swearingen SA226-T · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during takeoff
From Millard Airport (MLE) to Council Bluffs Municipal Airport (CBF)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI04LA096
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Swearingen SA226-T
- Aircraft type
- Swearingen SA226
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N636SP
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Millard Airport (MLE), Millard, NETo Council Bluffs Municipal Airport (CBF), Council Bluffs, IA
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Takeoff · roll/run
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control on ground/water
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Directional control › Not maintained
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The airplane sustained substantial damage during takeoff when the airplane veered off the right side of runway 30 (3,801 feet by 75 feet, concrete). The pilot reported that he "pushed the speed levers full forward and, while holding the brakes (with rudder pedals neutral), pushed the power levers up to approximately 80% torque and released brakes, using the nosewheel steering power lever button." He reported the airplane accelerated down the runway near centerline. At approximately 50 knots, he released the nosewheel steering power lever button and the aircraft started to veer to the right. He reengaged the nosewheel steering power lever button and applied rudder, but the airplane continued to veer off the runway. He reported he initiated abort takeoff procedures, but the airplane was unable to stop on the concrete surface. The airplane struck a runway light and the nose gear collapsed in the soft dirt when it went off the runway. The on-site inspection of the accident revealed that the airplane veered off the right side of the runway approximately 720 feet from the start of the takeoff roll. Tire skid marks about 50 feet in length were observed where the airplane veered off the runway. The left skid mark was measured at nine feet right of the runway centerline. The skid marks left the runway at about a 30 - 35 degree angle. The nosewheel steering system could not be checked due to impact damage. The Pre-takeoff Checklist calls for a Steering and Alignment check prior to takeoff. The Steering and Alignment checks the operational status of the nosewheel steering system prior to takeoff, and the nose wheel steering should not be used if the airplane fails the Steering and Alignment check during the Pre-takeoff Checklist. The Swearingen Metro SA226-T Airplane Flight Manual states that if a malfunction occurs in the nose wheel steering mechanism, adequate steering "can be maintained by use of rudder, brakes, and/or differential power." The inspection of the airplane revealed no anomalies were found that could be associated with a pre-impact condition.
Probable cause
The pilot failed to maintain directional control during takeoff. Contributing factors to the accident were the runway light and the soft terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI04LA096
- Event ID
- 20040412X00446
- Case number
- CHI04LA096
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: fd5a3a8fea496d3c3297aba4a8ec79ec2c1e7fc07d4b4b784c672e51bfb3d8a6; retrieved 2026-09-22T07:47:24.827Z.