Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tamarac, Florida 33309
Thursday, May 20, 1999 14:05 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On the morning of the accident the airplane had flown for about 1.2 hours, landed, was refueled, and shut down for a an unknown period of time. After start up the pilot taxied to the active runway, and was delayed in taking off by ATC, due to traffic. The time between engine start and takeoff was about 16 minutes. About 11 nautical miles west of the airport, the pilot radioed the control tower that he was having a problem raising the landing gear and he wanted to return to the airport. The pilot then radioed that he had lost the engine. Radar and radio contact was lost shortly thereafter. A witness heard the engine losing power, and sputtering. The witness also observed the airplane make a controlled descent towards the ground. On-site examination revealed that the approximately 10-foot-high brush, to the west of the ground impact site was bent towards the east, and the area of bent brush was about 20 feet in length. There were no ground scars to indicate that the airplane had any forward movement after impacting the soft ground. A test run of the engine was performed and revealed that when the engine was brought to cruise RPMs, and running for about 10 minutes, the fuel temperature reached 153 degrees F, which set up a vapor lock condition, the fuel pressure needle fluctuated, went to zero, and the engine completely shut down. The engine was allowed to cool and then started again. On the second run the fuel temperature reached 152 degrees F, the RPM and fuel pressure fluctuated, and the engine completely stopped, similar to the first run. A test on a similar airplane revealed that while cycling the landing gear, the wheels would pass in front of the radiator scoop. With the gear partially up, but not in the wheel well, the gear almost completely blocked the radiator scoop, which would have caused cooling air to be blocked or deflected.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A complete loss of engine power caused by the malfunctioning landing gear, which blocked the radiator scoop, leading to increased fuel temperature and the subsequent vapor lock condition and fuel blockage. A secondary cause was the pilot's failure to maintain flying speed resulting in the subsequent stall/mush
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/20/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1405 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | TAMARAC |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 33309 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | FORT LAUDERDALE EXECUTIVE |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FXE |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 10 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 270 |
| Airport Elevation | 14 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1350 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | FXE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 14 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 30 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 17 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1705 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1274 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 20 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1430 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 11 2001 4:07AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N25VV |
| NTSB Number | MIA99FA159 |
| 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 | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Classic Aircraft Corp. |
| Aircraft Model | S-51D |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | S-51D |
| Aircraft Serial Number | CL-1001 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3800 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | RON SCHMIDT |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2500 NW 62ND ST, HANGAR B |
| Aircraft Owner City | FT. LAUDERDALE |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33309 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | FXE |
| Departure City | FT. LAUDERDALE |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1351 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| 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 | Oct 10 2002 3:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 8 |
| Runway Length | 6001 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |