Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Douthitt Strip Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
El Centro, California 92243
Sunday, January 14, 2007 16:10 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that after an uneventful flight, he initiated a normal approach to the airport. While on final approach to runway 22, he stated that he couldn't see the runway or area surrounding it due to the alignment of the sun and decided to abort the landing and go-around. Shortly after applying power and raising the landing gear, the engine "sputtered" and lost power. The pilot stated that he had limited visibility due to the sunglare during the forced landing and was trying to keep the airplane from stalling. Subsequently, the airplane impacted terrain. Examination of the airframe revealed that the left and right wing sustained substantial damage. The right fuel tank was intact and contained a significant amount of fuel. All of the remaining fuel tanks were breeched. The engine was removed from the airframe, installed on an engine run test stand, and successfully ran at various power settings with no anomalies noted. The fuel selector valve was removed from the airframe and examined. The fuel selector valve shaft was bent. Manual activation by hand produced positive engagement in all positions. The fuel selector was placed on a test bench and functionally tested in accordance with the Navion Service Bulletin 106. Within one minute after applying 24 inches of vacuum pressure, an unspecified amount in excess of 20 inches of pressure was lost. According to the type certificate holder, the maximum specified loss is one inch. Both internal and external leaking was observed during the bench test. The fuel selector valve was dissembled and visually inspected with no anomalies noted. The official sunset was recorded to be 48 minutes after the approximate time of the accident and the end of civil twilight was 75 minutes after the approximate time of the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of engine power for undetermiend reasons. Contributing factors were the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing and the glare from the sun.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/14/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1610 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | El Centro |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92243 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 324720N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1153146W |
| Event Location Airport | Douthitt Strip Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 23CN |
| 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 | 45 |
| 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) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| 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 | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22944 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA-ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 14 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 30 2008 4:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | San Diego, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3BP |
| NTSB Number | SEA07LA048 |
| 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 | Navion |
| Aircraft Model | G Model |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | NAV-4-2457 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2068 |
| 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 | Nov 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 10 |
| Airframe Hours | 3578 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | David L. Price |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | El Centro |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92243 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | El Centro |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 92243 |
| 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 | SNS |
| Departure City | Salinas |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1300 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | 23CN |
| Destination City | El Centro |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Go-around (VFR) |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 26 2007 12:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 22 |
| Runway Length | 1800 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |