Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Calvada Meadows Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Pahrump, Nevada 89041
Friday, July 5, 2002 12:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The experimental airplane experienced a propeller blade failure and separation during cruise flight, resulting in airframe damage due to the severity of the vibrations from the out of balance propeller. While approaching the proximity of the airport, the pilot lowered the nose, in an effort to begin a gradual decent. About 9,500 mean sea level, the engine began to violently shake. He set the throttle to idle, the mixture in the off position, turned off the master switch, and put the fuel selector in the "off" position. He looked for a place to land and spotted a dry lake below. He configured the airplane in a slip and landed successfully. Post accident examination of the airplane revealed that 21 inches of a propeller blade tip had separated from the propeller body. The pilot thought that the consequential imbalance resulted in substantial damage to the airframe. The engine was left hanging by a 3/8-inch bolt. The propeller was a fixed pitch, aluminum two-bladed McCauley, part number 1A170/7074. The propeller had undergone a propeller strike prior to the accident, where it was shortened from 76 inches to 70 inches, and repitched.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the failure and separation of a propeller blade for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/5/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1200 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Pahrump |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89041 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 360300N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1160000W |
| Event Location Airport | Calvada Meadows Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | NV74 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 32 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 14 |
| Airport Elevation | 2726 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1156 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 286 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KLAS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2127 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 42 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 38 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 90 |
| 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) | 29.79 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 5476 |
| 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) | 16330 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 8 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1040 |
| 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-LAS-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N30430 |
| NTSB Number | LAX02LA220 |
| 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 | Bushby Aircraft |
| Aircraft Model | Mustang M-11 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1311 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 | Nov 10 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 20 |
| Airframe Hours | 120 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Ralph B. Lazaro |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Pahrump |
| Aircraft Owner State | NV |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 89060 |
| 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 | APV |
| Departure City | Apple Valley |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1115 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | NV74 |
| Destination City | Pahrump |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 26 2004 4:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |