Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Private Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fruita, Colorado 81524
Tuesady, August 28, 2001 13:40 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Shortly after takeoff (approximately 30 feet above the ground), the aircraft began to lose power. The pilot said the aircraft lost the ability to climb at about 60 feet above ground level. Due to a barn in his flight path, he turned the airplane toward an alfalfa field to make an emergency landing. The engine continued to loose power and attempts to regain engine power failed. The airplane's speed began to decrease and approach a stall. The airplane contacted the ground with its right wing first, then rotated until its heading was 180 degrees from its flight path, subsequently coming to rest against a fence. Postaccident examination of the engine by the pilot revealed that both piston rings had failed. The owner reported that the engine had approximately 4 hours of flight operation time.
.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
loss of engine power due to both piston rings failing, and the subsequent inadvertent stall/spin during the attempted forced landing. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/28/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1340 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Fruita |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 81524 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 391321N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1084353W |
| Event Location Airport | Private Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NONE |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 45 |
| Airport Elevation | 4651 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1356 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 107 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GJT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4858 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 18 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 34 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 7741 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12503 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NW OPERATIONS CENTER |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 28 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1430 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2002 3:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Salt Lake City, UT |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N91642 |
| NTSB Number | DEN01LA153 |
| 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 | Bradley |
| Aircraft Model | Rans S-7 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 491080 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1025 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 20 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4 |
| Airframe Hours | 4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Patrick L. Wehling Jr. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1620 O Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Loma |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 81524 |
| 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 | NONE |
| Departure City | Fruita |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1340 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| 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 - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 29 2002 10:49AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 09 |
| Runway Length | 1200 |
| Runway Width | 35 |
| Sight Seeing flight | -- |
| Air Medical Flight | -- |
| Medical Flight | -- |