Reid-Hillview Of Santa Clara C Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

San Jose, California 95122
Sunday, February 12, 2006 14:55 PST

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

After losing engine power in the traffic pattern, the airplane touched down hard in an uneven field during a forced landing short of the runway. The pilot had been on a local sightseeing flight. He tried to contact the air traffic control tower, but was unable to do so due to frequency congestion. He crossed over the airport at midfield, and was heading eastbound at 2,000 feet when the engine lost power. He turned back toward the airport to attempt a landing, and informed the tower that he had an engine failure and wanted to make an emergency landing. The tower cleared him to land on runway 31R. He entered for a short final below 1,000 feet and turned to the right toward the end of the runway at 500 feet or less. He overshot the turn to final for 31R, and felt the airplane stall while in a steep turn. He decided that he could not make the runway, and headed to a grass field near the end of the runway. He slowed to 60 knots, touched down hard in the uneven field, and skidded across a road. Airport operations personnel inspected the fuel tanks and found that the right tank was dry and the left tank had several gallons. The pilot informed them that he forgot to switch fuel tanks from the right tank to the left prior to landing.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

fuel starvation due to the pilot's improper fuel system management and failure to select the proper fuel tank. A factor was the rough, uneven terrain.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 2/12/2006
Event Day of the Week Sunday
Time of Event 1455
Event Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Event City San Jose
Event State CALIFORNIA
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site 95122
Event Date Year 2006
Event Date Month 2
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 371958N
Event Location Longitude 1214918W
Event Location Airport REID-HILLVIEW OF SANTA CLARA C
Event Location Nearest Airport ID RHV
Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport On Airport
Distance from airport in statute miles 0.3
Degrees magnetic from airport --
Airport Elevation 133
Weather Briefing Completeness --
Investigator's weather source Weather Observation Facility
Time of the weather observation 1355 Pacific Standard Time
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) 130
Weather Observation Facility ID RHV
Elevation of weather observation facility 133
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) 0
Time Zone of the weather observation PST
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height --
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 15000
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) 4
Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) 19
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) --
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) 30.27
Density Altitude (feet) --
Intensity of Precipitation --
METAR weather report --
Event Highest Injury Minor
On Ground, Fatal Injuries --
On Ground, Minor Injuries --
On Ground, Serious Injuries --
Injury Total Fatal --
Injury Total Minor 2
Injury Total None 1
Injury Total Serious --
Injury Total All 2
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 21281
NTSB Notification Source FAA
NTSB Notification Date Feb 12 2006 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time --
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Apr 25 2007 2:54PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\lema
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office Federal Aviation Administration

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N3724Z
NTSB Number LAX06LA111
Missing Aircraft Indicator --
Federal Aviation Reg. Part Part 91: General Aviation
Type of Flight Plan filed None
Flight plan Was Activated? --
Damage Substantial
Aircraft Fire None
Aircraft Explosion None
Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name Beech
Aircraft Model C23
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number M-2281
Certified Max Gross Weight 2450
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 Fixed
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection 100 Hour
Date of Last Inspection Oct 1 2005 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection 62
Airframe Hours 4764
ELT Installed Yes
ELT Activated Yes
ELT Aided Location of Event Site Yes
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Yuzo Wakita
Aircraft Owner Street Address --
Aircraft Owner City San Jose
Aircraft Owner State CA
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 95148
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 RHV
Departure City San Jose
Departure State CA
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1330
Departure Time Zone PST
Destination Same as Local Flt dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere
Destination Airport Code RHV
Destination City San Jose
Destination State CA
Destination Country USA
Specific Phase of Flight Emergency descent/landing
Report sent to ICAO? --
Evacuation occurred --
Date of most recent change to record Mar 19 2007 6:09PM
User who most recently changed record COOS
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location 31R
Runway Length 3101
Runway Width 75
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --