Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Needles Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Needles, California 92363
Friday, April 23, 1993 8:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While approaching the destination airport a total loss of engine power was experienced. The pilot made a forced landing on rough terrain and the airplane nosed over about 200 yards short of the runway threshold. An examination of the engine, which had been operated for 2,184 hours since last being overhauled in 1984, revealed its single drive dual Bendix magneto had internally failed. The magneto had a total time of about 4,309 hours and was 14 years old. No log book evidence was found indicating it had ever been overhauled. Internal exam of the magneto revealed that the bearing stack around the rotating magnet shaft was devoid of lubrication and the bearings did not rotate freely. The breaker cam was bluish in color and coked with cam follower material. The cam followers had decreased in size to the point that the points did not open. The operator had performed the last two inspections, and had not complied with Bendix's suggested four year magneto overhaul schedule as published in FAA and Bendix bulletins. The operator stated that he only obtained bulletins when adopted by regulation into airworthiness directives. Bendix reported that bearing lubricants deteriorate beyond their useful life in four years.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the total loss of engine power due to the failure of the magneto in the ignition system. The magneto failure resulted from the operator's lack of voluntary compliance with the manufacturers suggested overhaul cycle.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/23/1993 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 815 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | NEEDLES |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92363 |
| Event Date Year | 1993 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | NEEDLES |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | EED |
| 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 | 20 |
| Airport Elevation | 983 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| 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) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 40 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 29 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 864 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 23 1993 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1046 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 18 2002 11:28AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\GIUV |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6292D |
| NTSB Number | LAX93LA183 |
| 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 | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 172N |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 172N |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17272698 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2300 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 9 1993 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 84 |
| Airframe Hours | 4309 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DELTA AVIATION LTD |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3555 N.W. 313TH AVENUE |
| Aircraft Owner City | HILLSBORO |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97124 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | SILVERWEST AVIATION |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | RT. 2; BOX 355 |
| Operator City | BUCKEYE |
| Operator State | AZ |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 85326 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | P06 |
| Departure City | BULLHEAD CITY |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 730 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| 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 | 20 |
| Runway Length | 4802 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |