Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Pasadena, California 91101
Friday, June 17, 2005 23:10 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane collided with an automobile during a forced landing on a freeway following a loss of engine power during a night cross-country flight. The student pilot had just purchased the airplane and she and the flight instructor were bringing it back to the student pilot's home airport. The airplane was in a cruise descent when the engine started to lose power. The student pilot turned on the electric fuel pump, but it had no effect. She transferred control of the airplane to the flight instructor, and began to operate the hand pump. The engine speed increased as she pumped, but fell off when she stopped. The instructor had her switch to all of the fuel tanks but this had no effect on resolving the problem. The engine only produced power while she operated the hand pump, and the engine only operated at a low rpm. The airplane had lost altitude, and was down to about 1,000 to 2,000 feet over a freeway. She couldn't keep pumping the hand pump due to physical fatigue. They decided to land on the freeway and turned on to final about 300 to 400 feet. About 10 to 15 feet agl, they flashed the landing light to warn drivers on the freeway. Within 2 to 3 feet of landing, she noticed a car to the left of the airplane. The left wing hit the bottom part of the car, and the airplane cartwheeled to inverted. After exiting the airplane, she noted that fuel was leaking from both wings. The student pilot stated that she used the electric fuel pump as a primer to start to start the airplane at the last fuel stop and the fuel pressure went to 9 psi. The fuel pump was not used again until the accident. According to first responders, an 8-foot-diameter puddle of fuel was under the airplane. No preimpact anomalies were found during an examination of the engine that would have precluded normal operation. The engine driven fuel pump functioned when operated by an electric drill. The electric fuel boost pump did not rotate. Examination of the pump found that the roll pin inside the pump had sheared into two pieces, and one piece had lodged in the vanes, which prevented them from rotating. The technician that disassembled the pump remarked that this usually occurred when the pump had been run while dry. The underlying reason for the apparent failure of the engine driven pump and other fuel system components to allow sufficient fuel to the carburetor could not be determined.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a fuel starvation induced loss of engine power due a failure of the electric fuel pump. A factor in the accident was the dark night lighting conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/17/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 2310 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Pasadena |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 91101 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340800N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1180900W |
| 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 | 2253 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 122 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KFUL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 96 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 18 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2900 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.94 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | 20011G14KT 10SM CLR 23/13 A2988 RMK AO2 SLP117 T02 |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22053 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 17 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 | Van Nuys, CA FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5813C |
| NTSB Number | LAX05LA208 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| 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-2765 |
| 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 | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Dawn Kailey Hess |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | On File |
| Aircraft Owner City | Downey |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90240 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KRBL |
| Departure City | Red Bluff |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1930 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KFUL |
| Destination City | Fullerton |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 1 2007 4:56PM |
| 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 | -- |