Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Rancho Santa Fe, California 92091
Thursday, May 12, 2005 16:50 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Following a loss of engine power, the pilot made a forced landing in an open field and collided with two fences. The FAA inspector who responded to the accident site reported that fuel was in the fuel tanks. A visual inspection of the engine revealed no obvious mechanical failures. Investigators made unsuccessful attempts to run the engine; it would start, but would not remain running. The engine driven fuel pump was removed and investigators noted that the mating splines in the drive shaft were severely worn. A review of the engine logbook revealed that a field overhauled engine and an overhauled fuel pump had been installed on the airframe about a year prior to the accident; an annual inspection had been completed at the time of the engine installation. The owner reported a total of 149.38 hours of operation since the annual inspection. An FAA approved repair station had overhauled the fuel pump. The fuel pump was submitted to the Safety Board Materials Laboratory for further examination. A senior metallurgist observed wear and metal flow on the square key portion of the fuel pump shaft. There was no evidence of cracking or wear of the drive gear splined teeth. The metallurgist manually rotated the fuel pump and was able to achieve only intermittent engagement between the square key and corresponding slot. A Rockwell Hardness Test (C-scale; HRC) of the gear was conducted. The hardness specification for the gear was between 50-52 HRC. Initially the gear results for the HRC were below acceptable limits and a Rockwell B (B-scale; HRB) test was performed with an average hardness of 94.5 HRB. Laboratory personnel determined that the gear had a cadmium coat, and conducted another test after removal of the cadmium coat. The HRC tests were performed with an average gear hardness of 40 HRC. The FAA issued a suspected unapproved part notification (UPN No. 2004-00053) regarding the overhaul/repair procedure of the accident fuel pump. Teledyne Continental Motors issued a Service Instruction Letter (SIL) SIL06-2 notifying owners and operators of the FAA's issuance of UPN No. 2004-00053.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
failure of the engine driven fuel pump due to the improper overhaul procedure of the fuel pump by an overhaul facility, and the use of parts that did not meet hardness specification.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/12/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1650 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Rancho Santa Fe |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92091 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 395924N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1171158W |
| 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 | 1653 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RMN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1395 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 30 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | 6 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22052 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 12 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 30 2007 12:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SAN-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N709D |
| NTSB Number | LAX05LA166 |
| 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 | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | C35 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | D-2981 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2700 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 149.38 |
| Airframe Hours | 5864.35 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Jonathan K. Blackburn |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Aguanga |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92536 |
| 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 | MYF |
| Departure City | San Diego |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1630 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 54CL |
| Destination City | Anza |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 28 2007 2:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| 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 | -- |