Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Oakland Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Oakland, California 94610
Sunday, October 11, 1998 14:08 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot completed three banner tow flights in the airplane on the day of the accident. He refueled between the second and third flights. The pilot said the engine ran perfect during takeoff. He started a climb of 30 degrees and at 400 feet he initiated a right 270-degree turn and leveled off. During the level off, power was reduced to 24 inches of manifold pressure. During the turn the pilot heard a pop and the engine stopped producing power. He immediately lowered the nose and headed for the only open area he could see, a concrete pad in a construction area. He pumped the throttle several times and verified the gas was on, but was unable to restart the engine. As the airplane neared the touchdown point, a tractor-trailer truck moved in-between the airplane and the touchdown point and the airplane collided with the truck. The operator observed the takeoff and heard the engine quit. Then he heard several 'blurps' and assumed the pilot was moving the throttle to get the engine to restart. He also noticed fuel coming out of the center section vent line when the nose was lowered and opined that during the pushover to level flight, the pilot entered a negative 'g' condition. No discrepancies were found during examination of the airframe or engine.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power due to the pilot's inadvertent entry into a negative 'g' condition, which induced a temporary interruption of the fuel supply.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/11/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1408 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | OAKLAND |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94610 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | OAKLAND |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | OAK |
| 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 | 6 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1350 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | OAK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 6 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 1 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1853 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 11 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1442 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 21 2002 3:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\GIUV |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N770WM |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA008 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Stearman |
| Aircraft Model | E75 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | E75 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 75-8603 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2950 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 7 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 30 |
| Airframe Hours | 5244 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MILO TICHACEK |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2434 ROOSEVELT DR |
| Aircraft Owner City | ALAMEDA |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94501 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P. O. BOX 2272 AIRPORT STATION |
| Operator City | OAKLAND |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 94621 |
| 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) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | OAK |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1407 |
| 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 | Maneuvering |
| 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 | 33 |
| Runway Length | 3366 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |