Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
French Valley Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Murrietta, California 92563
Wednesday, August 22, 2001 12:05 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
According to the operator who inspected the airplane and interviewed the instructor, the airplane was topped off with 13.4 gallons of aviation gasoline and placed in the maintenance shop just prior to the flight. The airplane received new tires and was released from the shop. No other maintenance was performed. The airplane departed at 1200 with full fuel tanks, which was 22.5 gallons of useable fuel. The instructor had stated that shortly after takeoff, about 1,000 feet, there was a "popping" sound from the engine followed by a loss of engine power. He repositioned the mixture and throttle controls, but with no effect. He stated that he pitched the airplane to attain best glide speed and initiated a forced landing procedure. The airplane landed in rough terrain and was nosed over. The entire back portion of the muffler was open. There was evidence of sooting and discoloration of the firewall directly behind the left muffler. The fuel input line leading from the gascolator to the carburetor was positioned between the aft end of the left muffler and the firewall. It was approximately 3 inches away from the open end of the muffler and was heated substantially when the back end of the muffler blew off. The heat most likely caused the fuel in the line to vaporize, resulting in vapor lock. The lack of altitude and time did not allow the engine to re-fire after the fuel in the line cooled off.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the muffler assembly causing a fuel line to overheat, resulting in vapor lock, and a subsequent engine failure followed by an emergency landing in rough terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/22/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1205 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Murrietta |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92563 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | French Valley |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | F70 |
| 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 | 1200 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1155 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 327 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RIV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1538 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 38 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 350 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.01 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2823 |
| 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) | 11596 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 22 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1250 |
| 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 Riverside, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N63405 |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA287 |
| 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 | 150M |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 77289 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 20 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4 |
| Airframe Hours | 8450 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | D&L Aircraft Aquisitions Inc |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3511 Silverside Rd. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wilmington |
| Aircraft Owner State | MD |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91810 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Joe Diorio |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 37552 Winchester Rd. |
| Operator City | Murrietta |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 92563 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | F70 |
| Departure City | Murrietta |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1200 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | AVX |
| Destination City | Catalina |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 16 2002 2:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 36 |
| Runway Length | 4600 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |