Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Auburn Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Auburn, Washington 98002
Wednesday, February 21, 2007 14:15 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the initial climb after take off, the airplane's engine lost power. The pilot said there was a motel and casino in front of him, so he performed a 90 degree left-hand turn. The pilot landed the airplane parallel to and inside the airport perimeter fence with the right wing sliding along the fence. The airplane landed hard on both main landing gear and they collapsed. Additionally the engine mounts were broken, the engine firewall was wrinkled, both wings exhibited buckling and wrinkling, and the fuselage was wrinkled. Post accident examination of the engine revealed that a large piece of neoprene was lodged in the engine's air intake. The pilot said that he and the mechanic fabricated a neoprene seal for the engine's air intake during the conditional inspection, which was completed on February 12, 2007. The airplane had flown 0.2 hours, out of conditional inspection, at the time of the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power due to the obstruction of the engine's air inlet by a fabricated neoprene seal, and inadequate maintenance by unknown maintenance personnel. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/21/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1415 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Auburn |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98002 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 471940N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1221336W |
| Event Location Airport | Auburn Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | S50 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 63 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1353 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 320 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SEA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 433 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 9 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 3 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.89 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21674 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 21 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 27 2007 1:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle, WA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N601DB |
| NTSB Number | SEA07LA059 |
| 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 | Barnhart |
| Aircraft Model | RV-6 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 23744 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1750 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0.2 |
| Airframe Hours | 430 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | James H. Thomson |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Issaquah |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98027 |
| 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 | S50 |
| Departure City | Auburn |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1415 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | S50 |
| Destination City | Auburn |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 2 2007 10:52PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 3400 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |