Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Chico Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chico, California 95926
Sunday, September 9, 2001 19:11 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Witnesses observed the airplane climb a maximum of 200 feet above the runway during its initial climb, and then it descended in a right wing low attitude until impacting the level ground short of the airport's perimeter fence. A fire erupted and consumed the airplane. Before the pilot succumbed to his injuries he reported to the responding medical personnel that "my engine failed and I was trying to turn around." The subsequent airframe examination revealed that the wings were fire damaged in areas corresponding to both the inboard and the outboard fuel tanks, and the fuel selectors were on the main tank positions. The landing gear was extended, and the rudder trim tab was set to a position consistent with a right engine power failure. No evidence of any internal engine mechanical malfunction was observed. The left propeller blades were torsionally twisted and gouged; the right blades sustained only minor damage. The pilot was an airframe and powerplant mechanic, had performed the maintenance on his airplane, and was its only pilot. He last flew the airplane about 3.5 months prior to the accident, and this was the first flight following maintenance. No logbook records were found that identified the maintenance performed. The cause of the right engine's nonmechanical loss of power was not determined. Given the prevailing meteorological conditions and the airplane's weight, performance data indicates that the airplane should have had a positive climb rate upon feathering the right engine's propeller blades and retraction of the landing gear.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of right engine power for undetermined reasons, and the pilot's failure to maintain control of the aircraft due to his improper single engine emergency procedures.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/9/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1911 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Chico |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95926 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 394703N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1215056W |
| Event Location Airport | Chico Municipal |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CIC |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.8 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 130 |
| Airport Elevation | 238 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1910 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 310 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CIC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 238 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| 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) | 29.77 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 1900 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 15186 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 9 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2000 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 30 2004 8:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO Sacamento, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2268P |
| NTSB Number | LAX01FA302 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-23-150 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 23-878 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3500 |
| 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 | May 30 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 91 |
| Airframe Hours | 4379 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Stanley E. Boston and Susan M. Boston |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Magalia |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95954 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Stanley E. Boston |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | CIC |
| Departure City | Chico |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1910 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | CIC |
| Destination City | Chico |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 17 2003 3:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 13L |
| Runway Length | 6724 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |