Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
San Francisco International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Francisco, California 94621
Saturday, September 11, 2004 9:38 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The business jet experienced a fire in the aft equipment bay while holding short for takeoff. The two-person aircrew were performing a positioning flight. While the airplane was holding short for takeoff, the crew noticed a Master Caution and a Pack & Aux Overheat warning light illuminated on the cockpit annunciator panel, followed by a Rear Baggage Smoke Detector warning light. The crew shut down the APU. The captain declared an emergency and the crew evacuated the airplane. Fire crews arrived shortly thereafter, and determined that the fire had extinguished itself. Examination of the aft pressure bulkhead by the manufacturer revealed metal discoloration and soot residue, and it was determined that there was structural damage to the aft pressure bulkhead due to a heat induced loss of material temper. After the incident the operator inspected the aft equipment bay and identified a hydraulic line with a pinhole leak. The stainless steel hydraulic line had a small crater like deformation with evidence of recast metal and a 0.005-inch hole at the base of the crater, which is consistent with damage caused by an electrical arc. There was no evidence of chafing on the hydraulic line. Copper, cadmium, and nickel material were acid rinsed from the crater; none of which are listed as alloying element in stainless steel. Copper wire is commonly used as an electrical circuit conductor. A pinhole leak could be expected to atomize the hydraulic fluid that was at 3,000 psi. The hydraulic system working fluid used was Aeroshell Fluid 41, which has a reported flash point between 221F and 230F. The electrical looms/cables that were in the aft equipment bay were disposed of prior to the Safety Board initiating the accident investigation; therefore, determination or identification of the electrical arc source was not possible.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An electrical arc from an undetermined source initiated a hydraulic line rupture, which resulted in an equipment bay fire.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/11/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 938 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | San Francisco |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94621 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 373708N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1222229W |
| Event Location Airport | San Francisco International |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KSFO |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 956 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KSFO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 13 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 900 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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) | 19545 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 11 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1030 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 25 2006 11:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-FSDO-Oakland, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N520QS |
| NTSB Number | LAX04LA334 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | British Aerospace |
| Aircraft Model | BAE 125-1000A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 259020 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 31100 |
| 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 | 11 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 26 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 49.2 |
| Airframe Hours | 9413 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Net Jets Inc |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| 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 | Two Leadership Sq 10th Floor |
| Operator City | Oklahoma City |
| Operator State | OK |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 73102 |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KSFO |
| Departure City | San Francisco |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 938 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KVGT |
| Destination City | North Las Vegas |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Taxi |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 27 2006 3:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 01R |
| Runway Length | 8648 |
| Runway Width | 200 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |