Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Private Strip Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fallon, Nevada 89406
Thursday, March 19, 1998 14:50 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the initial takeoff climb, the pilot reduced power and the rpm's dropped to zero, but there was no sound change in the engine. The pilot attempted to return to the airport for a precautionary landing. During the turn back to the airport, the engine began to run rough. The pilot was unable to make the runway and made an off-airport emergency landing and collided with ground obstructions. A post-accident investigation revealed an oil starvation failure of the engine. The oil pump's drive gear shaft had failed in torsional overload. Examination of the oil pump's driven gear revealed that the required bronze bushings between it and the driven gear shaft were absent. It was noted that the engine was overhauled 162 hours prior to the accident. During the engine overhaul, the oil pump was sent out for overhaul and was returned to the owner as a disassembled unit. The owner/pilot, who was not a certified A & P mechanic, reassembled the oil pump and reinstalled it on the airplane. A certified A & P mechanic reported that he did sign the logbook to this affect, but he did not monitor or inspect the work that had been completed by the owner.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The aircraft owner/pilot's improper assembly of the engine oil pump, which resulted in failure of the unit and oil starvation failure of the engine. A factor was the lack of supervision of the owner/pilot's work by the A & P mechanic.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/19/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1450 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | FALLON |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89406 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | PRIVATE STRIP |
| 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 | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 270 |
| Airport Elevation | 3500 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2254 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 305 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LOL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 3904 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 17 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| 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) | 50 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1811 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 19 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1952 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 9 2001 8:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8274M |
| NTSB Number | LAX98LA124 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 210K |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 210K |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 21059274 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3800 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 14 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 9 |
| Airframe Hours | 5360 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WALT WARDWELL |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. BOX 2431 |
| Aircraft Owner City | FALLON |
| Aircraft Owner State | NV |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 89407 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | FALLON AIRMOTIVE INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1500 RIO VISTA |
| Operator City | FALLON |
| Operator State | NV |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 89406 |
| Operator Code | XFLA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1450 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | RNO |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 9 2001 8:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 4000 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |