Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Yucca Valley, California 92286
Friday, December 31, 2004 13:30 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane collided with power lines during a forced landing on a road following a total loss of engine power. The pilot entered a mountain pass area east of his destination at 3,500 feet mean sea level, westbound. Due to lowering ceilings, turbulence, and rain, the pilot performed an 180-degree reverse course to the high desert, and another possible route into the Los Angeles basin and his destination. Soon after the course reversal, the pilot noted an engine sound decrease and loss of engine rpm. As he reached the edge of the high desert, the engine shutdown abruptly. He turned toward a nearby airport, and observed a popped circuit breaker for the electronic ignition system. He reset the breaker and the engine went to full power for about 5 or 10 seconds, and then the breaker popped again. He turned off the electronic ignition system to check the redundancy of the left magneto, which was also inoperative. The pilot reported that during the course reversal while in the rain showers, he observed rainwater entering the cockpit and instrument panel area around the magneto switches and electronic ignition circuit breaker. He felt that the source of the ignition failure was due to the shorting of the magneto switch from the rainwater.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a loss of engine power due to ignition system failure due to rain water grounding/shorting of the magneto switches.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/31/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Yucca Valley |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92286 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340740N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1162428W |
| 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 | 1353 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 181 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PSP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 462 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 19 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 150 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.88 |
| 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) | 19219 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 31 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1545 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 28 2006 12:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-RAL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N321EZ |
| NTSB Number | LAX05LA057 |
| 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 | Orr |
| Aircraft Model | Long-Ez |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1463 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1450 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 23 |
| Airframe Hours | 212 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | David A C Orr |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Dana Point |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92629 |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Punta Pescadero |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | MX |
| Departure Time | 930 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CNO |
| Destination City | Chino |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 9 2005 11:17AM |
| 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 | -- |