Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Ala Doble Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Esparto, California 95627
Thursday, December 31, 1998 11:51 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Ground witnesses heard the engine make a 'pop' sound on downwind and observed flames coming from the rear cowl area. The passenger reported that he observed light haze of smoke in the cockpit on base leg, then flames and dark black smoke filled the cabin as the airplane turned onto final. The pilot landed hard and the airplane ground looped to a stop. The pilot had difficulty opening the canopy and sustained serious burns. The engine and components of the accessory section at the rear of the engine exhibited thermal damage in the left rear of the accessory section. The engine driven fuel pump displayed more damage than the other accessories. The aluminum housing of the engine driven fuel pump was melted and the center section of the pump had disintegrated. The top half of the pump remained securely attached to the engine. The bottom of the pump fell into the rubble. Molten metal remained on the lower portion of the pump piece that remained attached to the engine. The attachment fittings for the inlet and output fuel lines for the fuel pump were detached and lying in the engine compartment. The inlet line had globules of molten metal on the threads and around the fitting. The output fitting did not have any residue on it; the threads and fitting were clean and undamaged. The 'B' nut on the output fitting was 1 1/4 turns loose. The remaining fuel line 'B' nuts were secure. The fitting was an industrial hardware fitting rather than an aviation fitting, and did not show any evidence of fracture. After removal of the fire sleeve from the flexible fuel lines, no damage or chaffing of the braided material was evident. There was no evidence of any ruptures or other hose failures within the engine compartment. A condition (annual) inspection was completed 1 month 10 hours prior to the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The owner's inadequate condition (annual) inspection, which failed to detect a loose fuel pump output line attachment fitting, which resulted in an in-flight fire. A factor in the hard landing and ground loop was the pilot's inability to see through the smoke filling the cockpit.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/31/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1151 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | ESPARTO |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95627 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | ALA DOBLE |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PVT |
| 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 | 250 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1158 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 70 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SMF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 28 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 20 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Broken |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 1.25 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 10 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| 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 | Serious |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1979 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 31 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1300 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 19 2001 4:45AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N288M |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA063 |
| 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 | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Richard Young |
| Aircraft Model | HARMON ROCKET II |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | HARMON ROC |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3326-3 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1950 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 9 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 11 |
| Airframe Hours | 209 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | VERNON S. DALLMAN JR. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | ESPARTO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95627 |
| 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 | |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1135 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| 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 | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 19 2001 4:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 34 |
| Runway Length | 2500 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |