Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37130
Saturday, December 18, 1999 9:17 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was on approach for landing when the airplane experienced a total loss of engine power, and crashed during a forced landing. Examination of the airframe and engine assembly revealed no evidence of a precrash mechanical failure or malfunction. Visual inspection of the spark plugs revealed very black and sooty. Fuel was present in the flow divider but was not present in the line between the fuel servo and flow divider. The servo fuel injector was removed and examined. The fuel diaphragm had not been replaced. The servo fuel injector was placed in a test bench and a functional test performed. Fuel was pouring out of the venturi causing erratic air flow through the regulator and erratic air flow. The air cover and diaphragm was removed to determine the source of the fuel leak. The fuel diaphragm stem was bent. The center body was removed with the fuel diaphragm attached to the center body bellows. The bottom calibration nut was removed from the fuel diaphragm stem. The fuel diaphragm was removed from the bellows and a leakage check was performed. The bellows was split and air was leaking through the bellows. Appropriate AD's and SB's had not been complied with resulting in an in-flight power loss due to an over rich condition.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of an unknown maintenance person to comply with an Airworthiness Directive (replace center body bellows seal assembly and tube bushings) and Service Bulletin (replace fuel diaphragm) resulting in an in-flight power loss due to an over rich condition caused by the failure of the center body bellows seal assembly, and subsequent forced landing and in-flight collision with terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/18/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 917 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | MURFREESBORO |
| Event State | TENNESSEE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 37130 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| 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 | 937 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 330 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MQY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 543 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 11 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1200 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 6 |
| 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 | Not Gusting |
| 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 | 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) | 1456 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 18 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 946 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 10 2001 10:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N627KB |
| NTSB Number | MIA00LA053 |
| 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 | Swertfeger |
| Aircraft Model | VELOCITY 173 ELITE |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | VELOCITY 1 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | DMO 375 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 88 |
| Airframe Hours | 87 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | KENNETH W. SWERTFEGER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1617 PARK STREET SOUTH EAST |
| Aircraft Owner City | DECATUR |
| Aircraft Owner State | AL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 35601 |
| 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 | DCU |
| Departure City | DECATUR |
| Departure State | AL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | MBT |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 10 2001 12:27PM |
| 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 | -- |