Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
South County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Martin, California 95046
Wednesday, October 22, 2003 15:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The student pilot/airplane owner, who is also an aviation mechanic, reported a loss of engine power after takeoff during the initial climb. He said the engine was running rough, and started to lose power. He was unable to maintain altitude, and made a forced landing. The airplane collided with a fence during the landing roll. An examination of the engine disclosed virtually no compression in two of the four cylinders, an absence of an air cleaner, excessively wide gaps on all of bottom spark plugs, and a heavily sooted and fouled number 4 top spark plug. The engine was installed in July, 1978, and had accumulated 2157.5 total operating hours; it has never been overhauled.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The absence of compression in two of the airplane's four cylinders, and the pilot/mechanic's failure to maintain the engine in an airworthy condition, which resulted in a loss of engine power during takeoff-initial climb, and subsequent forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/22/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1515 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | San Martin |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95046 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 374054N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1213549W |
| Event Location Airport | South County Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KQ99 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 320 |
| Airport Elevation | 281 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1524 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 320 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KRHV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 133 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 28 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| 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) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.1 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16988 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 22 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1545 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 28 2004 12:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Wp-FSDO-San Jose, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5968L |
| NTSB Number | LAX04LA022 |
| 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 | American |
| Aircraft Model | AA-1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 268 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 1 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3343.4 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Kevin David Carey |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4315 Jennie Way |
| Aircraft Owner City | Medford |
| Aircraft Owner State | OR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 97504 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Michael D. White |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | PO Box 5211 |
| Operator City | Central Point |
| Operator State | OR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 97502 |
| 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 | KQ99 |
| Departure City | San Martin |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1515 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KWLW |
| Destination City | Willows |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 28 2004 12:13PM |
| User who most recently changed record | LABJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |