Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Oceano County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Oceano, California 93445
Sunday, January 13, 2002 14:37 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane lost engine power in the traffic pattern and collided with an airport perimeter fence when it landed short of the runway. The pilot reported that while on the downwind leg of the traffic pattern, he lowered the landing gear. He heard a loud bang from the firewall area, and the instrument panel caved in. The engine lost power, and he maneuvered the airplane towards the airport. The airplane touched down about 500 to 1,000 feet short of the runway, and collided with an airport perimeter fence. A post accident examination of the airplane revealed that the mixture control cable separated at the mixture control arm. The engine control bracket, part number 21189-00, was missing. Without the bracket, the mixture control cable hangs freely down below the engine, where the nose gear is located when in the retracted position. A kink in the mixture cable indicated that it became caught on a Zerk fitting located on the pivot point of the nose landing gear when the nose gear was extended to the down position. This resulted in the mixture control cable separating from the mixture control arm on the carburetor. Maintenance records revealed that the airplane was about 2 months overdue for an annual inspection.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power due to the separation of the mixture control cable from the mixture control arm of the carburetor. The mixture cable separation was due to maintenance personnel's failure to secure the mixture control cable away from the nose landing gear, which resulted in the cable snagging during gear extension. A factor in the accident was the airplane being overdue for an annual inspection.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/13/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1437 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Oceano |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93445 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 350605N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1203720W |
| Event Location Airport | Oceano County |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | L52 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 14 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1446 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 353 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | sbp |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 209 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.95 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 710 |
| 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) | 16313 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 13 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1500 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 29 2004 1:02PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA FSDO - SAN JOSE, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N328EJ |
| NTSB Number | LAX02LA065 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-24-250 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24-2356 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2800 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 9 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 5022 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DAVID L. MALTONE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | GROVER BEACH |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93433 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | L52 |
| Departure City | Oceano |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1415 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| 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 | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 16 2004 6:14PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 29 |
| Runway Length | 2325 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |