Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Brackett Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Dimas, California 91773
Thursday, July 4, 2002 12:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane impacted trees, terrain, and pedestrians after the pilot declared an emergency during takeoff from a nearby airport. Witnesses observed the airplane not climbing after takeoff and air traffic controllers heard the pilot declare mayday three times. The pilot did not elaborate on the emergency situation. Witnesses observed the airplane turn left over the shoreline of a reservoir where it impacted a tree with its left wing. One witness stated the left propeller was not turning as fast as the right propeller and he heard the engines backfiring. Post-accident examination of the aircraft revealed no flight control anomalies. The left engine's top spark plugs were covered with black soot and the piston and cylinders were dark in appearance, indicative of an overly rich fuel/air mixture. The reason for the excessively rich mixture was not determined. The left engine was successfully test run twice following the accident, once utilizing the systems and plumbing in the airframe, and the second time in an instrumented test cell. Examination of the wreckage did find irregularities in the wiring circuits for both boost pumps and their associated cockpit switches; however, the relationship of these irregularities to the loss of power is uncertain. Review of the airplane owner's manual revealed the emergency procedures for a loss of engine power after takeoff called for the retraction of the landing gear and the feathering of the propeller to obtain the maximum climb performance. The landing gear was not retracted and the left propeller was not feathered. Eighteen months prior to the accident, the pilot failed his first attempt to obtain his multiengine airplane rating due to improper emergency procedures during engine failure operations after liftoff. The pilot's total time in the same make and model as the accident airplane is unclear.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the pilot's failure to maintain control of the airplane following a loss of power in one engine during takeoff. The reason for the loss of power in the left engine could not be determined. Contributing factors to the accident were the pilot's failure to retract the landing gear and to feather the inoperative engine propeller.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/4/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1230 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | San Dimas |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 91773 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340500N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1174806W |
| Event Location Airport | Brackett Field |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | POC |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 270 |
| Airport Elevation | 1011 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1237 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | POC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1011 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Partial Obscuration |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| 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) | 29.96 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 2 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 9 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 4 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 9 |
| Injury Total All | 13 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16306 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 4 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1514 |
| 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 | Riverside, California |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8145M |
| NTSB Number | LAX02FA214 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 310I |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 310I0145 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5100 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 7 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5160.5 |
| Airframe Hours | 6158.1 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Michael A. Brand |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Glendora |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91740 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| 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 | POC |
| Departure City | La Verne |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1230 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| 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 | Emergency landing after takeoff |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 16 2004 2:52PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26L |
| Runway Length | 4839 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |