Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Sonoma Valley Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sonoma, California 95476
Saturday, May 5, 2001 9:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While maneuvering to land after experiencing a loss of engine power the right wing dug into the soft dirt and the airplane came to rest inverted. Three weeks prior to this accident the airplane was involved in an incident where it came to rest on its nose with the fuel tank remaining partially submerged in water. Efforts were made to clear the water out the fuel system; however, the header tank that sits in the forward portion of the airplane was not removed and flushed properly. The airplane had been ground run after the incident, but not flown until the day of the accident. No mechanical anomalies were noted during the ground runs. During the engine examination trace amounts of water were found in the carburetor.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the pilot to properly flush out the fuel system after the header tank became submerged in water, which precipitated a loss of engine power and forced landing in a soft open dirt area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/5/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 930 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | SONOMA |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95476 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 381341N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1222600W |
| Event Location Airport | SONOMA VALLEY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 0Q3 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 160 |
| Airport Elevation | 10 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 853 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 310 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | STS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 125 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 50 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.02 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11085 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 5 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1026 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 28 2001 7:25AM |
| 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 | N838KC |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA165 |
| 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 | De Havilland |
| Aircraft Model | Tiger Moth DH 82A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | NL-838 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1850 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 18 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 42 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Kenneth H. Copp |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | San Rafael |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94903 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 0Q3 |
| Departure City | SONOMA |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 930 |
| 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 | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 3 2001 2:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 7 |
| Runway Length | 2700 |
| Runway Width | 45 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |