Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Pearblossom, California 93563
Saturday, August 13, 1994 13:31 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While in level flight, the airplane's right wing separated and, during the separation sequence, wing fuel ignited. Subsequent laboratory examination of right-side, center-wing fragments revealed two fatigue cracks that propagated to overstress fractures. One of the cracks was within the underside wing skin below a doubler, and the other was within the doubler itself. The total size and origin of the fatigue regions could not be determined due to damage to fracture surfaces and a lack of available material. The airplane was delivered new to the U.S. Air Force in December 1957 and was retired from military service in 1986. In May 1990, the FAA issued a restricted-category special airworthiness certificate authorizing the airplane to dispense aerial fire retardant. At the time of the accident, the airplane had a total of 20,289 flight hours, 19,547 of which were acquired during its military service. The inspection and maintenance programs used by the operator, which were based on military standards, included general visual inspections for cracks but did not include enhanced or focused inspections of highly stressed areas, such as the wing sections, where the fatigue cracks that led to those accidents were located. The operator did not possess the engineering expertise necessary to conduct studies and engineering analysis to define the stresses associated with the firefighting operating environment and to predict the effects of those stresses on the operational life of the airplanes.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the inflight failure of the right wing due to fatigue cracking in the underside right wing skin and overlying doubler. A factor contributing to the accident was inadequate maintenance procedures to detect fatigue cracking.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/13/1994 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1331 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | PEARBLOSSOM |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93563 |
| Event Date Year | 1994 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1259 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 315 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PMD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2543 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 16 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 50 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 39 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| 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 | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 3 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 2073 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 13 1994 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1355 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2000 12:00PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N135FF |
| NTSB Number | LAX94FA323 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | In-flight |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | LOCKHEED |
| Aircraft Model | C-130A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | C-130A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 56-540 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 120000 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Number of Engines | 4 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 7 1994 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 10 |
| Airframe Hours | 20300 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AERO FIREFIGHTING SVC CO INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 631 S. MANCHESTER |
| Aircraft Owner City | ANAHEIM |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92802 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | JAMES A. VENABLE |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. BOX 3780 |
| Operator City | HEMET |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 92546 |
| Operator Code | RPEG |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Unknown |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Unknown |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Unknown |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | HMT |
| Departure City | HEMET |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1312 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| 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 | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |