Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Snelling, California 95369
Thursday, September 23, 1999 19:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
About 25 minutes into the flight over mountainous terrain, the pilot noticed that the left fuel cap was missing, and that fuel was escaping from the left tank filler opening. The pilot said he selected the right tank, but then returned the selector to the both position. He descended to make a precautionary landing at an airport ahead of the airplane and the engine quit during the en route descent. He landed in a field with the landing gear retracted and impacted a fence. An FAA inspector examined the airplane during recovery operations. As it was being lifted, he observed about 1 quart of fuel drain from the left wing tank. When the selector was positioned to both about 1 gallon drained from the belly in a continuous stream. According to the pilot and a mechanic who worked on the airplane before the flight, while at the departure airport the pilot had several electrical system problems that required several days to repair. During this time as electrical components were being replaced, engine starts became problematic. The mechanic pressurized the fuel tank with air through the left tank fuel filler opening and the engine started without difficulty. The mechanic suspected that the electric fuel pump was the cause of the problem and advised the pilot to have the pump examined. The pilot decided to continue with his flight plans instead. The pilot stated that he did not do his own preflight check of the airplane; he assumed that the fuel cap had been replaced. The mechanic reported that the pilot replaced the cowling and restarted the engine. Three witnesses watched the airplane taxi out and depart. No fuel caps were found on the ramp or the runway.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's inadequate preflight inspection, which failed to ensure that the left fuel filler cap was secure, and his decision to continue flight with a known malfunction in the electric fuel pump. Also causal was the pilot's improper positioning of the fuel selector to the both selection after the siphoning fuel condition was noted from the left tank filler opening, which resulted in fuel exhaustion.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/23/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1900 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | SNELLING |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95369 |
| 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 | 1853 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MCE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 156 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| 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) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| 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 | 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) | 1824 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 23 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1952 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 27 2001 4:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N153JC |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA318 |
| 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 | Ciernia |
| Aircraft Model | GLASAIR III |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | GLASAIR II |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3236 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2500 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 15 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 48 |
| Airframe Hours | 58 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | JAMES CIERNIA |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 153 COUNTRY CLUB DRIVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | SAN LUIS OBISPO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93401 |
| 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 | MEV |
| Departure City | MINDEN |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1835 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SLO |
| Destination City | SAN LUIS OBISPO |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 27 2001 4:05AM |
| 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 | -- |