Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Rosamond Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Rosamond, California 93560
Saturday, July 14, 2007 11:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The accident flight was the airplane's maiden flight where the pilot was to complete a series of shallow banks. After doing the predetermined maneuvers, which included four simulated approaches to landing, he descended to traffic pattern altitude. As he maneuvered onto the base leg, he reduced the engine power from about 4,500 rpm to 2,000 rpm. The airplane began to lose a significant amount of altitude, and in response, the pilot moved the throttle control forward. The engine then had a total loss of power. The airplane descended and impacted the roof of a private residence. Examination of the airplane and engine following the accident revealed the upper spark plugs were all a similar black coloration, indicating that the fuel/air mixture was rich. Additional evidence of a rich mixture was found with dark black residue lining the tail pipe exhaust. After starting the engine during a postaccident examination, the throttle control was manipulated and the engine responded appropriately. The engine emitted a thick white smoke during operation. Investigators noted that when retarding the throttle toward the idle position, the throttle arms did not move against the idle adjustment screw stops. Manual manipulation of both throttle arms to the carburetors' adjustment screws resulted in a loss of power. The same action was repeated four times, producing the same results. The right carburetor bowl contained a brown colored liquid similar in color to a maple syrup; the odor was consistent with a varnished fuel. The left carburetor bowl contained a small amount of fluid that was similar to that of the fluid found in the right carburetor, though a shade lighter in color. The fuel found in the center fuel tank was also varnished. In the 7 months prior to the accident, the engine had only been run on 11 occasions, all on the ground, for a total of 2 hours of operational time.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A total loss of engine power during approach due to the improper idle screw/stop adjustment. A factor contributing to the accident was deteriorated fuel.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/14/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1130 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Rosamond |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93560 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 345212N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1181233W |
| Event Location Airport | Rosamond |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | L00 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 2415 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1156 Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KWJF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2351 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 7 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| 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) | 37 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 16 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.03 |
| 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) | 23156 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 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 | Mar 31 2008 11:52AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-VNY-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N239PC |
| NTSB Number | LAX07LA218 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Clement |
| Aircraft Model | Zenith Zodiac CH601 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 6-4235 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1200 |
| 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 | Jun 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 3.9 |
| Airframe Hours | 3.9 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Paul Clement |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | La Canada |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91011 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| 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 | L00 |
| Departure City | Rosamond |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1030 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | L00 |
| Destination City | Rosamond |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - base leg/base to final |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 25 2008 2:04PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 25 |
| Runway Length | 3600 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |