Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Gerlach, Nevada 89412
Friday, August 29, 2003 19:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane collided with terrain following a loss of engine power during takeoff from a temporary dirt strip. The pilot reported that after liftoff he rolled the engine back to 2,200 rpm and reduced the manifold pressure to 23 inches. He brought the gear up. The airplane was about 200 to 300 feet above ground level (agl) and climbing at 90 knots. The engine lost power, and the pilot made a forced landing with the landing gear retracted. All spark plugs were clean with no mechanical deformation, and the spark plug electrodes were light gray and circular. The engine rotated freely, and thumb compression was obtained on all cylinders in firing order. The top plugs for cylinders 2, 4, and 6 sparked with manual rotation of the crankshaft. Manual rotation of the right magneto produced spark at the leads for cylinders 1, 3, and 5. The fuel screen in the pressure carburetor was clean. Investigators put solvent into the inlet line of the fuel pump and manually rotated the pump. The pump rotated freely and fluid exited the outlet line.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/29/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1900 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Gerlach |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89412 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 403836N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1192036W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1856 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RNO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4415 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 80 |
| 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) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 40 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.09 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 19743 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 29 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2100 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 30 2006 1:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-RNO-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N607D |
| NTSB Number | LAX03LA268 |
| 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 | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | C35 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | D-2863 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2700 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | May 1 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Marcos R. Della |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Scotts Valley |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95066 |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure City | Gerlach |
| 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 16 2006 6:13PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |