Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Chandler Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chandler, Arizona 85249
Wednesday, July 18, 2001 8:43 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A fire erupted in the right engine nacelle during a maintenance check flight following replacement of the engine. The pilot shutoff the engine and feathered the propeller; however, before he could complete the emergency checklist, black smoke began entering the cockpit via a fresh air vent in the leading edge of the wing near the nacelle. The visibility in the cockpit dropped to about 1 foot and the pilot couldn't see outside, or the instrument panel, or any controls. He declared an emergency and opened the pilot's window. He instructed his passenger to crack open the main door; however, his passenger couldn't find the door handles in the dense smoke. After a period of time he got the door cracked open and the smoke cleared. At that point they were down to 300 or 400 feet agl, and he identified an open field in which an emergency landing was made. Examination of the right-hand engine revealed it was mechanically intact; however, a hose-end "B-nut" at the inlet to the engine driven fuel pump exhibited an unusual number of exposed threads. The B-nut was loose and required 1 1/8 turns to finger-tighten and 1 1/4 turns to snug tighten with a wrench. When the B-nut was unscrewed from the fitting, the threads of the fitting and the B-nut itself did not exhibit any cracks or stripped threads. No other mechanical anomalies were found.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of maintenance personnel to properly tighten a fuel line fitting during an engine installation resulting in a fuel leak and fire during the maintenance checkflight. A factor in the accident was inadequate inspection of the installation prior to return to service.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/18/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 843 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Chandler |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85249 |
| 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 | Chandler Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CHD |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 220 |
| Airport Elevation | 1243 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 843 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 40 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CHD |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1243 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Dawn |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 40 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.95 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11589 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 18 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 915 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 14 2002 9:31AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO Scottsdale, Arizona |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N15120 |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA250 |
| 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 | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-34-200 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 34-7350022 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4200 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 27 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 78 |
| Airframe Hours | 5832 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Garrison Aviation inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Prescott |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 86301 |
| 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) | Flight Test |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | CHD |
| Departure City | Chandler |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 745 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| 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 | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 16 2002 2:57PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 4L |
| Runway Length | 4395 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |