Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
New Orleans Lakefront Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
New Orleans, Louisiana 70126
Saturday, February 3, 2001 9:10 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot-in-command (PIC) stated that they were flying at 4,000 feet msl over Lake Pontchartrain when the flight crew heard a bang. The pilots thought that they had experienced a bird strike, and they landed uneventfully at New Orleans. Post flight examination of the left wing revealed that the left wing's fuel vent was blocked with duct tape, and the wet wing fuel tank had collapsed. The fuel tank stringers and the wing ribs sustained structural damage. The PIC stated that the fuel tanks had been repaired and pressure tested prior to the flight. The PIC added that after the pressure test, the mechanic, who repaired the fuel tank, removed the tape from the right wing's fuel vent; however, both the mechanic and the flight crew failed to notice the duct tape over the left wing's fuel vent. The flight crew stated that there were no streamers or markers present to indicate that the fuel tank vent was covered with duct tape.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot-in-command's inadequate preflight inspection, which resulted in a flight with a blocked fuel tank vent. A contributing factor was maintenance personnel's failure to remove the tape covering the fuel tank vent following a pressure test.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/3/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 910 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | New Orleans |
| Event State | LOUISIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 70126 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | New Orleans Lakefront |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NEW |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| 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 | 853 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | NEW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 9 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 70 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.37 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10252 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 14 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1400 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 30 2001 11:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N190WC |
| NTSB Number | FTW01LA067 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | -- |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | British Aerospace |
| Aircraft Model | HS.125-700A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | NA0329 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 25500 |
| 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 | 11 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0.5 |
| Airframe Hours | 8203.8 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Walker Aviation, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2829 Lakeland Drive; Suite 1600 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Jackson |
| Aircraft Owner State | MS |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 39208 |
| 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 | NONE |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | JAN |
| Departure City | JACKSON |
| Departure State | MS |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 830 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | NEW |
| Destination City | New Orleans |
| Destination State | LA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 24 2001 11:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MORJU |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | UNK |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |