Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Petaluma Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Petaluma, California 94952
Wednesday, February 14, 2001 12:30 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During landing, the engine lost power. The airplane collided with trees, and made a hard landing in an open dirt field in the ensuing forced landing. On the downwind leg for landing, the pilot lowered the landing gear, and the engine began to run rough. He noted that the landing gear stopped about halfway down. He attempted to add power, but did not receive a corresponding power increase, and set up for an emergency landing. A visual external examination of the engine revealed that the mixture cable was entangled in the nose landing gear. When the landing gear was lowered the mixture cable was pulled out of its sleeve, which allowed the engine to be in a full lean position. Mixture, throttle, and propeller cables were recently installed by the pilot and his two partners. The pilot and his partners were not certificated A & P mechanics, and a certified mechanic had not returned the airplane to service after the cable installation. The last entry in the logbook was made 6 months prior to the accident,.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of non-airframe and powerplant mechanic/certificated owners to properly install a new mixture cable that became entangled in the nose landing gear during its extension for landing, resulting in a loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/14/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1230 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Petaluma |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94952 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 381528N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1223619W |
| Event Location Airport | Petaluma Muni |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | O69 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 87 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1153 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 125 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | STS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 125 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 22 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.06 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10946 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 14 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1430 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 6 2001 9:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-OAK-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8286P |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA097 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-24-250 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24-3538 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2900 |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 3 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 2339 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | THOMAS A. CONROY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Sebastopol |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95472 |
| 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 | STS |
| Departure City | Santa Rosa |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1145 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | O69 |
| Destination City | PETALUMA |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 22 2001 11:42AM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 11 |
| Runway Length | 3600 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |