Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Brownsville Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Brownsville, California 95919
Friday, June 14, 2002 10:02 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane impacted terrain during an attempted return to runway maneuver following a loss of engine power shortly after departing the airstrip. A witness observed the pilot takeoff and, when the airplane was about 800 feet above ground level, he heard the engine sputter. The airplane made a turn to the left, which was consistent with the pilot attempting to return back to the runway. The engine stopped completely, and the airplane's bank attitude increased. As the airplane continued in a turn, the airspeed became slow and the left wing appeared to lose lift. The airplane stalled into the ground, with the nose impacting the terrain vertically. Upon impact, a post impact fire consumed the airplane. The pilot's neighbor recalled talking to the pilot about 15 minutes prior to the accident flight. She stated that the pilot expressed to her that he was having trouble with the airplane, and that he could not seem to identify what the problem was. The pilot was reportedly performing the maintenance on the airplane. The airplane's engine had been running rough, which the pilot was attributing to be a result of water in the fuel system, or due to a carburetor problem. No mechanical discrepancies were found in the thermally destroyed wreckage.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a loss of engine power for undetermined reasons. Also causal was the pilot's failure to maintain an adequate airspeed during a turn to reverse course back to the runway, resulting in a stall and collision with terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/14/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1002 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Brownsville |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95919 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 392733N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1211748W |
| Event Location Airport | Brownsville Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | Q21 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 200 |
| Airport Elevation | 2120 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 953 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 97 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | OVE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 192 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 3292 |
| 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) | 16324 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 14 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1000 |
| 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 | WP-SAC-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3329B |
| NTSB Number | LAX02LA197 |
| 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-22-135 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 22-2144 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1850 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3127 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | James E. Barr |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | On File |
| Aircraft Owner City | Brownsville |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95919 |
| 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 | Q21 |
| Departure City | Brownsville |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1000 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | Q21 |
| Destination City | Brownsville |
| 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 | Jul 16 2004 6:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 06 |
| Runway Length | 2326 |
| Runway Width | 20 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |