Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tacoma, Washington 98335
Monday, May 30, 2005 20:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After flying in the local area for about 20 minutes, the pilot entered the VFR traffic pattern, and after turning on base leg the aircraft's engine suddenly lost all power. He was therefore forced to execute a power-off landing in an open field, where the aircraft's nose gear encountered some soft terrain and collapsed. A post-accident inspection determined that there was sufficient uncontaminated 100LL fuel on board. During a series of test runs, the engine ran extremely rough at rpm's below 1,500, and it quit a number of times during the run. The engine smoothed out some when the fuel boost pump was turned on to the low position, and smoothed out even more when the pump was turned to the high position. The un-metered fuel pressure was measured, and although it was lower than the specification directed, it was not low enough to account for the very rough running engine. At the end of the series of test runs, the spark plugs were removed, and their white ashy color confirmed that the engine was running extremely lean. Further flow tests and inspections were performed on the fuel system components after they were removed from the aircraft, but the results of these tests did not reveal any anomalies that would be expected to cause the engine to run rough or quit while on a reduced power approach. In addition, the fuel pump was tested to ensure that there was no air leaking past the shaft seal, and the results of that test was negative. At the completion of the testing/inspection process, it could not be clearly determined what was causing the engine's fuel system to run so lean.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The malfunction of the fuel injection control system, for undetermined reasons, while the aircraft was on base leg for a full-stop landing. Factors include soft terrain in the area where the pilot found it necessary to perform a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/30/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 2015 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Tacoma |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98335 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 471601N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1223438W |
| 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 | 0.25 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 292 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| 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) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 190 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 8 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 18665 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 30 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 27 2005 6:51AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9017V |
| NTSB Number | SEA05LA110 |
| 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 | A-36 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | E-274 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 4500 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Garrett N. Pettingill |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Lakewood |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98499 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | KTIW |
| Departure City | Tacoma |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1955 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | KTIW |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 12 2005 1:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 17 |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |