Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Cayey, Puerto Rico 00736
Thursday, September 4, 2003 17:08 AST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

While on descent, the pilot reported that the airplane's left engine had lost power. He secured the left engine, and when he added power to the right engine, he believed it was not developing full power. He could not maintain altitude and elected to perform a forced landing in an open field. The airplane touched down long and with excessive speed on to the field striking trees, power lines and collided with the ground. A maintenance action entry in the aircraft's maintenance logbook indicate that the wing tip fuel tanks had the drain valve o-rings removed and replaced on the day before the accident. The maintenance entry states wing tip tanks were empty. The pilot stated he elected not to fuel either one of the wing tip tanks, due to the fact that maintenance was performed on them and did not select fuel from the wing tip tanks on the day of the accident. Excerpts from Airworthiness Directive (AD) 83-23-1, which is applicable to the accident airplane, states "This is a tip-tanked aircraft. Tip-tanks are to be filled first-used last. Before take-off check both main and tip-tank contents". AD 83-23-1 instructs to place a placard in clear view of the pilot on the instrument panel referring to the protocol of fueling and takeoff processors with regards to fuel tank contents. The mechanic who perform the maintenance to the wing tip tanks stated the placard was installed and in plain view of the pilot. The pilot stated he fueled the airplane with 50 gallons of aviation gasoline for a total of 90 gallons in both main tanks for the flight to Culebra from Ponce. The pilot went on to state prior to the return flight to Ponce from Culebra he checked his fuel quantity, which indicated he had 35 gallons in each main fuel tank for a total of 70 gallons aboard the airplane before departure. Fuel samples from both the FAA and the port authorities from the facility where the airplane was fueled for the flight showed no contamination as per the FAA Inspector statement.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

The loss of power on the left engine and partial lost of power on the right engine for undetermined reasons resulting in a force landing and impact with wires, tree, and terrain during subsequent force landing.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/4/2003
Event Day of the Week Thursday
Time of Event 1708
Event Time Zone Atlantic Standard Time
Event City Cayey
Event State PUERTO RICO
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 00736
Event Date Year 2003
Event Date Month 9
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 180630N
Event Location Longitude 0660930W
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 1450 Eastern Daylight Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 95
Weather Observation Facility ID TJMZ
Elevation of weather observation facility 29
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 55
Time Zone of the weather observation EDT
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 3000
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) 31
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 23
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 140
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) 29.9
Density Altitude (feet) 1800
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury Minor
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor 6
Injury Total None --
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All 6
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 15567
NTSB Notification Source FAA SE Reg Com Ctr
NTSB Notification Date Sep 4 2003 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1900
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Jun 3 2004 1:28PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\MONR
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office San Juan FSDO

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N630VC
NTSB Number MIA03LA177
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 Britten-Norman
Aircraft Model BN-2A-27
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 868
Certified Max Gross Weight 6300
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 10
Number of Engines 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Annual
Date of Last Inspection Jul 14 2003 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 55
Airframe Hours 10608
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Venagas Construction Corp.
Aircraft Owner Street Address 472 Tito Castro Ave. Ste 201
Aircraft Owner City Ponce
Aircraft Owner State PR
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 00716
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) Executive/Corporate
Second Pilot on Board No
Departure Point Same as Event No
Departure Airport Code CPX
Departure City ISLA DE CULEBRA
Departure State PR
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1625
Departure Time Zone EDT
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code PSE
Destination City PONCE
Destination State PR
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Emergency descent/landing
Report sent to ICAO? No
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Mar 19 2004 11:50AM
User who most recently changed record KENJ
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location --
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --