Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bryce Canyon, Utah 84717
Wednesday, October 15, 1997 10:36 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot said that smoke began coming into the cockpit and 'I could hardly see the propeller.' He stated that 'at that point, we discovered the indicator light for the cabin door seal pressurization pump was on.' The pilot believes that it had been operating continuously due to an air leak in the system. In order to eliminate electrical power to the pressurization pump, the pilot turned the master switch off. After landing the airplane, the pilot located a fire in the upholstery, which he extinguished. Postincident examination revealed that the aluminum housing of a resistor (inverter) in the cabin door seal pressurization pump (an STC modification) had melted and deformed. Further investigation revealed that the pump unit had not been installed properly due to lack of adequate written instructions. Additionally, the design of the unit did not include a pilot controlled on-off switch, adequate space for cooling during operation, sufficient procedural directions for when the amber caution light comes on, and there was no way to monitor the pumps operating time limitation (10 minutes). It was also determined that the wrong amperage fuse had been installed in the pump system.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the resistor (inverter) in the door seal pressurization air pump due to continuous operation. Factors were a failure in the door seal pressurization system, its inadequate design by the manufacturer, its inadequate written instructions for installation and operation, and the installation of the improper electrical fuse by unknown persons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 10/15/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1036 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | BRYCE CANYON |
| Event State | UTAH |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 84717 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| 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) | 90 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 90 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1680 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 13 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1400 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 16 2001 5:10PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N731NX |
| NTSB Number | FTW98TA051 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | P210N |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | P210N |
| Aircraft Serial Number | P21000515 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4000 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 30 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 59 |
| Airframe Hours | 5510 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MESA COUNTY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 20000 |
| Aircraft Owner City | GRAND JUNCTION |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 81502 |
| 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) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | GJT |
| Departure City | GRAND JUNCTION |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 930 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | BCE |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | UT |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| 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 | -- |