Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Watsonville Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Watsonville, California 95076
Friday, September 15, 2006 21:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During cruise flight the engine lost power and the airplane impacted several objects in a residential area about 2,000 feet from the airport during an attempted forced landing. The flight was 310 nautical miles. The pilot said that during the preflight he visually checked the fuel levels, which were near the top in both tanks. He calculated his time en route based on a no-wind condition as 2.58 hours, with 38 gallons of fuel and an 8-gallon per hour fuel burn. Prior to departure, he checked weather, which showed that he would encounter 10- to 15-knot headwinds. He reported that two of the flight's legs were longer than he had planned by a total of 35 minutes. He had begun to worry about the airplane's fuel state and had briefly considered a fuel stop short of his destination to refuel. During the descent to his destination airport, the pilot switched the fuel selector to the right fuel tank and the engine lost power. He switched to the left tank, the engine started again, but then lost power. The pilot attempted a forced landing at an uncontrolled airport, but the airplane did not have sufficient altitude to make the runway, and it landed in a residential area short of the airport. A deputy who responded to the accident site noted that there was no smell of fuel around the airplane and the left wing fuel tank was empty. The right wing had separated during the accident sequence. The pilot stated that there were no mechanical anomalies encountered with the airplane or engine.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion as a result of the pilot's inadequate preflight planning, en route fuel consumption calculations, and in-flight decision to continue to the destination instead of stopping en route for fuel.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/15/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 2115 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Watsonville |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95076 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 365614N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1214738W |
| Event Location Airport | Watsonville |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | WVI |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| 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 | Night |
| 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) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 20836 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 15 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 31 2007 9:40AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SJC-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6532L |
| NTSB Number | LAX06CA294 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Grumman American AVN. CORP. |
| Aircraft Model | AA-5 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | AA5-0632 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Edward A. Frederick |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Garden Grove |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | RI Flying Club |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Fullerton |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| 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 | FUL |
| Departure City | Fullerton |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1730 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SJC |
| Destination City | San Jose |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 3 2006 5:47PM |
| 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 | -- |