Accident Swearingen SA226-TC Metro II N158WA,

ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 319906

Date:	Monday 20 March 2017
Time:	04:05
Type:	Swearingen SA226-TC Metro II
Owner/operator:	Western Air Express
Registration:	N158WA
MSN:	TC-411
Year of manufacture:	1981
Total airframe hrs:	28602 hours
Engine model:	Garrett TPE331-10UA
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Substantial, repaired
Category:	Accident
Location:	Boise Air Terminal, ID (BOI) - United States of America
Phase:	Take off
Nature:	Cargo
Departure airport:	Boise Air Terminal, ID (BOI/KBOI)
Destination airport:	Denver-Centennial Airport, CO (APA/KAPA)
Investigating agency:	NTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
A Swearingen SA226-TC, N158WA, was substantially damaged due to foreign object damage to the airplane's propeller and fuselage during initial takeoff/climb from Boise Air Terminal, Idaho, USA.
According to Federal Aviation Administration personnel, about the time the airplane was rotating from runway 10L, the pilot experienced a light vibration; he subsequently returned to BOI and landed uneventfully. During a post-landing examination of the airplane, it was revealed that a portion of the outboard section of a left propeller blade, which had fragmented into 2 pieces, was missing. Additionally, about a 4 inch by 4 inch puncture hole was observed to have gone through the left forward side of the fuselage just aft of the main air stair door; a piece of the propeller blade was found in the cabin. It was further noted during a runway sweep for foreign objects shortly after the occurrence, that a screw driver which had been used during maintenance on the airplane earlier, and the second piece of the propeller blade tip, were both recovered from the departure runway in the same approximate location from where the airplane would have rotated.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "Company maintenance personnel's failure to remove a screwdriver that was left lodged in the windshield wiper area of the forward fuselage during maintenance and subsequently became dislodged on takeoff/initial climb and collided with a left propeller blade."

Accident investigation: