Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Natrona, Wyoming 82646
Friday, May 7, 2004 12:30 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After refueling to capacity, the pilot took off to ferry his newly-purchased airplane it to his home base. After 1 hour in cruise flight at 9,500 feet msl, the engine --- which had been producing 2,500 rpm --- began "surging" and started losing power. Carburetor heat was opened and the mixture was adjusted, but the engine continued to lose power. Cylinder head temperature, oil temperature, and oil pressure indicated normal parameters. As the airplane began losing altitude, the pilot decided to land in an open area. During the landing rollout, the nose and right main landing gears were torn off, and the left main landing gear folded underneath the airplane. The firewall was buckled and there was wing damage. Later examination of the fuel selector valve a considerable amount of fine grit inside the fuel screen. Similar grit was seen inside the fuel tank. The airplane was given a conditional inspection on May 6, 2004. Prior to that, the last conditional inspection was on August 1, 1996. Tachometer time between these two inspections was 178.9 hours. At the last inspection, the fuel tank was removed, cleaned by a radiator shop, and reinstalled in the airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
fuel starvation due to contamination, resulting in the fuel selector valve becoming totally blocked. Contributing factors were the inadequate conditional inspection, and the lack of nsuitable terrain on which to make a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/7/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1230 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Natrona |
| Event State | WYOMING |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 82646 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 430300N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1064700W |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1253 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 108 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CPR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5347 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 22 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 18 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 24 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.03 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 7926 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16261 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Comm Ctr |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 7 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1828 |
| 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 | Casper, Wyoming |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N92AC |
| NTSB Number | DEN04LA070 |
| 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 | Crimmins |
| Aircraft Model | Smyth Sidewinder |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 212380 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1413 |
| 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 | May 6 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4 |
| Airframe Hours | 601 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | William J. Harris |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | On File |
| Aircraft Owner City | Hemet |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92545 |
| 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) | Ferry |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | THP |
| Departure City | Thermopolis |
| Departure State | WY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1130 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CPR |
| Destination City | Casper |
| Destination State | WY |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 16 2004 2:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| 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 | -- |