Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Gardena, California 90248
Thursday, October 26, 2000 11:05 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane collided with an electrical line during an off airport forced landing following a loss of engine power. The pilot was doing a test flight after completion of some cylinder and carburetor work. He took off once and put it back on the ground, because he wanted to make sure everything was working fine. He did a run-up, checked the instruments, and took off again. At 400 feet the engine lost power and he could not return to the airport. The airplane sustained substantial damage and caught fire when it came to rest after contacting the wires. The throttle and mixture handles were full forward. The primer was in the locked position. The carburetor heat handle was forward in the off (cold) position. The magneto switch was in the both position. The fuel pump switch was in the on position. The fuel selector valve was in the right position. The wing fuel tanks were breached and the fuel sump contained water. Investigators disconnected the fuel inlet line to the carburetor, blew into the line, and did not hear or see any leaks in the lines or at the fuel selector valve. The electric fuel pump and its attached fuel lines sustained thermal damage and were partially consumed by the post crash fire. The carburetor sustained thermal damage and could not be tested due to melted material, which clogged the fuel inlet and obstructed the float needle. Both magnetos sustained thermal damage and one sustained mechanical damage. The internal components of both magnetos were in good condition and appeared to have accrued a low number of hours. A serviceable housing cover, which included a distributor lock and capacitor, was attached to the unit that only sustained thermal damage. The magneto produced and sustained a normal running spark from 350 rpm through 2,800 rpm.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The engine lost power for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/26/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1105 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | GARDENA |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90248 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1105 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 100 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | HHR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 66 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| 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) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.92 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 438 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 2 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12466 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 26 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1120 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2002 3:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N26470 |
| NTSB Number | LAX01FA027 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Grumman American |
| Aircraft Model | AA-5A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | AA-5A |
| Aircraft Serial Number | AA5A-0614 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2200 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 30 |
| Airframe Hours | 3750 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | GARY J. EIMILLER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | REDONDO BEACH |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90277 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | HHR |
| Departure City | HAWTHORNE |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1100 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| 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 | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 15 2002 5:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| 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 | -- |