Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Watsonville Muni Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Watsonville, California 95076
Thursday, April 26, 2007 15:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane nosed over in a wheat field following a loss of engine power during takeoff. The certified flight instructor (CFI) estimated that 10 to 15 minutes elapsed between completion of the run-up and takeoff checklist before traffic cleared so that he and the student could take off. The takeoff was normal, and they started their climb to the practice area. About 200 to 300 feet agl, the engine started to lose power; it didn't just lose power. He took control. He applied carburetor heat, and pumped the throttle a few times as he had done in the past to keep an engine running. However, the engine didn't respond. The airplane was over the end of the runway. He felt that they were too low to turn around, and wanted to get the airplane down before they flew past the clear area before a freeway. He aimed for a wheat field that he thought would cushion the landing. He estimated that about 40 seconds elapsed from the loss of power to touchdown. The wheat in the field was 4-feet tall, and a lot thicker than the CFI expected. It stopped the airplane on touchdown, causing a nose over. He saw fire in the engine compartment. He instructed the student to be careful unstrapping since they were inverted, but to hurry. They both exited out the right side door, and cleared the airplane. The FAA coordinator examined the airplane and engine and no abnormalities were found to preclude normal operation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a partial loss of engine power for undertermined reasons during takeoff.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/26/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1515 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Watsonville |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95076 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 355605N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1214713W |
| Event Location Airport | WATSONVILLE MUNI |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | WVI |
| 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 | 163 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 954 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MRY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 257 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 21 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 15 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.02 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 23198 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 26 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 31 2008 11:52AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP- FSDO- San Jose |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1557Q |
| NTSB Number | LAX07CA135 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 150L |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15072857 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 16 |
| Airframe Hours | 5860 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Jennifer L. Hubbell |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Watsonville |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95076 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | WVI |
| Departure City | Watsonville |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1515 |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Takeoff - initial climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 7 2007 3:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 20 |
| Runway Length | 4501 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |