Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Reno/Stead Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Reno, Nevada 89506
Wednesday, May 21, 2003 19:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The certified flight instructor made a hard landing following a loss of engine power during takeoff initial climb. After adding 10 gallons of fuel to the airplane, the flight instructor and the student taxied to the hold short line and completed an uneventful run-up for runway 26. The airplane rotated at 60 miles per hour (mph) indicated airspeed (IAS), and the instructor told the student to pitch for the best rate of climb speed. Approximately 500 feet above ground level, as the student was turning crosswind, the engine "coughed." The flight instructor told the student to apply full throttle and mixture; the tachometer was then reading 2,100 rpm. The engine "coughed" again and the rpm decreased to 1,500 rpm. Then, the engine completely lost power. The flight instructor decided to try to return to the runway. The airplane was in a right turn at 500 feet agl. As the airplane approached runway 8, the airspeed was 61 mph IAS. The airplane touched down on the runway, still in the turn. The left main landing gear sheared off and the airplane slid to a stop in the gravel on the south side of the runway. Post accident examination of the engine revealed that the mixture control arm could not reach the "FULL RICH" position. This anomaly could not be explained by impact damage. Considering the elevation of the airport and the likely 7,600-foot density altitude, investigators were uncertain about the relationship between the mixture control travel limit and the loss of engine power. No other discrepancies were noted with the engine.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/21/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1900 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Reno |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89506 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 394004N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1195257W |
| Event Location Airport | Reno/Stead |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 4SD |
| 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 | 5046 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1856 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 140 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RNO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4412 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| 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) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 20 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.04 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 7664 |
| 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) | 17748 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 21 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1935 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 8 2005 12:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Reno FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N68567 |
| NTSB Number | LAX03LA159 |
| 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 | Bellanca |
| Aircraft Model | 7GCBC |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 395-72 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | D. Spillane |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fairbanks |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99707 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | T. Brill |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Reno |
| Operator State | NV |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 89506 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 4SD |
| Departure City | Reno |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1900 |
| 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 | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 25 2005 4:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26 |
| Runway Length | 7608 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |