Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Agua Dulce Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Agua Dulce, California 91350
Wednesday, October 29, 1997 14:15 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated that about 500 feet AGL the engine began to shake violently. His attempts to reduce the vibration by reducing the power were unsuccessful. He did not have enough altitude to return to the airport, and performed a forced landing to a vacant field. A flight crew from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department responded to the accident site and interviewed the pilot. He reported that the engine began to lose power after takeoff and he headed toward a field just south of the crash site. The pilot stated that he was too high and fast to land in the field and he turned around to land downwind. He said that at 30 feet AGL, the airplane stalled, fell to the ground, and nosed over. Witnesses reported that they heard an aircraft over fly their homes producing strange noises. They saw the aircraft make an abrupt turn to land and the landing gear struck the ground. The gear collapsed and the aircraft nosed over onto its back. The pilot/owner/builder reported that the drive belt had rolled forward out of the pulley in the belt reduction drive unit, which induced the vibration and caused a loss of drive power to the propeller.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the propeller system/drive assembly, and the pilot's failure to maintain flying speed, which resulted in a stall and subsequent impact with the ground. Inadequate maintenance/inspection of the propeller system was a contributing factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/29/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1415 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | AGUA DULCE |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 91350 |
| 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 | AGUA DULCE |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | L70 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 40 |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| 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) | 40 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| 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 | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1785 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 30 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 930 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:37PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4478Y |
| NTSB Number | LAX98LA026 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Striplin Aircraft Corporation |
| Aircraft Model | LONE RANGER SLVR CLD |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | LONE RANGE |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 8100SR |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 800 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 27 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 1 |
| Airframe Hours | 76 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | KENNETH R. STRIPLIN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1426 BOYDEN AVENUE |
| Aircraft Owner City | LANCASTER |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93534 |
| 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 | L70 |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1410 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | LEONA VALLEY |
| Destination State | CA |
| 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 | -- |