Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Sonoma Skypark Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sonoma, California 95476
Tuesady, September 4, 2001 20:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During an approach for landing the engine lost power and the pilot made a forced landing in a vineyard where the airplane came to rest on it's nose. Fuel was observed in the fuel tanks. Fuel recovered from the fuel tanks was 4.5 gallons. According to the manufacturer, 3.5 gallons of fuel is unusable. During the engine inspection it was noted that the ignition switch was defective and did not allow for proper contact with the system. Pressure had to be applied to the instrument panel in order to allow a positive ground to the system for start up. The pilot indicated that the ignition switch had been defective prior to the accident flight and had been that way for some time. A successful engine ground run was conducted with no further mechanical discrepancies noted. Review of the Carburetor Icing Probability Chart revealed that weather conditions were conducive to serious icing at climb or cruise power.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Fuel exhaustion due to the pilot's inadequate preflight fuel consumption calculations and failure to ensure that adequate fuel was onboard the airplane prior to departure. A factor in the accident was the pilot's continued use of the airplane with known mechanical deficiencies.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/4/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 2030 |
| 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 | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | SONOMA SKYPARK |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 0Q9 |
| 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 | 315 |
| Airport Elevation | 20 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2054 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 295 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | APC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 33 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| 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) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.87 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11598 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 4 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2105 |
| 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-OAK-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N51256 |
| NTSB Number | LAX01LA289 |
| 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 | 150J |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15069875 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 22 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 5070 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Craig Aure & Jesse Borgnis |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Glen Ellen |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95442 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CPU |
| Departure City | San Andreas |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1930 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | 0Q9 |
| Destination City | Sonoma |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 25 2002 12:14PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26 |
| Runway Length | 2480 |
| Runway Width | 40 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |