Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Menlo Park, California 94025
Sunday, September 5, 1999 14:22 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot had just departed the airport and was over the San Francisco Bay when the engine suddenly lost power. He attempted to make an emergency landing on a nearby bridge but had insufficient altitude and landed in the water on the shore short of the area. The airplane nosed over when the nose wheel plowed into the mud. Postaccident examination of the engine revealed that the spark plugs were not producing any spark. The 'P-leads' were grounded at a short in a tie-wrapped wire bundle under a grommet at the firewall. The insulation was melted and the inside conductor was contacting the radio shielding of the wire where it was attached to the airframe. Additional examination of the engine found that the rear wall section of the left muffler was missing, with the remaining edges eroded. With the muffler wall missing, hot exhaust gases were directed towards the firewall where the shorted section of the 'P-leads' were located. Maintenance actions had been performed in the engine compartment three times in the past 2 months, with the last maintenance activity 3 days prior to the accident when a cylinder was replaced. The loss of power event occurred on the first flight following return of the airplane to service.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The fatigue failure of the left muffler rear wall, which resulted in hot exhaust gasses being ported onto, and shorting, the magneto p-lead wires. The failure of maintenance personnel to detect the impending failure of the muffler during the recent engine maintenance activity is also causal.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/5/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1422 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | MENLO PARK |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94025 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| 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 | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1430 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PAO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 3 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 350 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| 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 | 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1729 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 5 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1435 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 14 2001 1:47PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8135U |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA295 |
| 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 | 150M |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 150M |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15077898 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| 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 | Jul 26 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 25 |
| Airframe Hours | 8000 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | I S B A, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 8053 EARHART ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | OAKLAND |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94621 |
| 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 | PAO |
| Departure City | PALO ALTO |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1415 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | OAK |
| Destination City | OAKLAND |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 14 2001 10:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |