Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
St. Petersburg/Clearwater Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Clearwater, Florida 34624
Monday, January 25, 1999 15:13 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After landing on runway 17L and turning onto taxiway 'L,' the left wing caught fire. CFR (Crash, Fire, Rescue) personnel responded and the fire was extinguished. The pilot told the FAA that after he turned onto the taxiway he heard a 'bang.' He attempted to turn the airplane to see if anything was on the taxiway, but he saw smoke. He stopped the airplane, shut off the engines, and all the occupants evacuated the airplane out the right door. Examination of the airplane's left wing revealed that soot was found in the wing bay outboard of the auxiliary fuel cell, soot was found on the stall warning switch, near an unused open terminal. Fuel stains were found on the bottom of the fuel cell bay liner and on the lower wing skin in the fuel cell area. The wing access panel, outboard of the APU plug receptacle in the engine exhaust trail area was found not sealed, as was the flap bell crank bolt access panel also located in the engine exhaust trail area. The battery positive cable was an automotive type cable. The relay end of the cable had melted. The battery ground lead had numerous broken wire strands at the battery end terminal. The fuel pump resistor and wire bundle from the left wing were sent to the NTSB Materials Laboratory, Washington, D.C., in an attempt to determine if they were the source of ignition. Examination of the wires revealed they were sooted and displayed heat damage consistent with exposure to a fire. Most of the insulation on the individual wires were missing, exposing the conductors. Where the insulation was present, the insulation varied in condition from slightly sooted to completely charred and crumbling. The inspection of individual wires with a stereo microscope revealed, the copper conductors were heat damaged but remained intact. No indication of arcing or electrical shorting were found on the wire surfaces. No determination of an ignition source, for the ground fire, was determined.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a ground fire in the left wing due to an undetermined ignition source.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/25/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1513 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | CLEARWATER |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 34624 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | ST. PETERSBURG/CLEARWATER |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PIE |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 11 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1510 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PIE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 14 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2600 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 141 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 25 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1630 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 21 2001 4:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5080Q |
| NTSB Number | MIA99LA068 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 310N |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 310N |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 310N-0180 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5200 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 1 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 20 |
| Airframe Hours | 4281 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CARL FROMHAGEN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1745 SOUTH HIGHLAND AVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | CLEARWATER |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 34616 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | PIE |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Taxi |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 21 2001 4:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 17L |
| Runway Length | 8500 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |