Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Delano, California 93215
Monday, July 2, 2001 17:34 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The aircraft collided with grapevines and supporting trellises during a forced landing following a loss of engine power. According to the pilot, his passenger fueled the airplane prior to departure. They purposely waited until after they ate lunch and immediately before departure to refuel the airplane in order to obtain the maximum quantity of cool fuel. The passenger had flown about 40 photo missions with the pilot and was aware of the importance of fueling the airplane to maximum capacity. He assured the pilot that the fuel tanks were completely full. The accident occurred 3 hours 34 minutes after departure. The pilot stated that during recovery, 1/2-gallon of fuel was found in the airplane. The pilot also told the Safety Board investigator that he routinely flew the airplane 4 hours to 4 hours 5 minutes and it would require 20- to 20.5-gallons fuel to fill the tanks. The airplane holds 26 gallons fuel, of which 22.5 are usable fuel. The engine was test run and started promptly and ran smoothly. The magneto check and carburetor heat check were normal. The engine did not stop when the mixture control was moved to the idle cutoff position. The inspection revealed that the mixture control arm was loose on its shaft. The carburetor was examined and the mixture control valve stem shaft was found bent and was not inserted into the sleeve in the bowl. According to the representative from the carburetor manufacturer, the carburetor operates in the "full rich" condition at all times when the stem is not inserted in the sleeve and subsequent movement of the mixture control would have no effect. The examination also revealed that the mixture control lever was loose on the shaft and the stop peg traveled beyond the idle cutoff stop pad. The pilot/operator reported that no recent maintenance had been performed on the carburetor.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A bent mixture control valve stem shaft in the carburetor which made pilot control of the mixture inoperative resulting in excessive fuel consumption, and subsequent loss of engine power..
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/2/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1734 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Delano |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93215 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| 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 | 1656 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 135 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KBFL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 507 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 22 |
| 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) | 39 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.77 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12358 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 3 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 830 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 24 2002 3:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Fresno, California |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6475T |
| NTSB Number | LAX01TA233 |
| 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 | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 150 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15017875 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| 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 | Dec 28 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 223 |
| Airframe Hours | 7759 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Christine L. Lewin |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Anderson |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 96007 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Randy L. Thompson |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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) | Public Use |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | DLO |
| Departure City | DELANO |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| 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 | Emergency descent/landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 9 2002 3:22PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |