Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bethel, Alaska 99559
Wednesday, August 8, 2007 17:27 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercial pilot was repositioning a float-equipped airplane to its mooring site after a 100-hour inspection. About 2 minutes after departure, the pilot reported a loss of engine power, and selected a small pond as a forced landing site. After touchdown on the pond, the airplane collided with the shoreline and nosed over. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the left wing, right wing lift strut, empennage, and fuselage. A postaccident inspection of the airplane revealed that the fuel selector handle had been inadvertently reinstalled incorrectly during the recent 100-hour inspection, and when the fuel tank selector handle was placed in the "Both" position, it actually turned the fuel supply off. Investigation revealed slight wear to the keyed cog of the fuel selector valve handle (female receptacle), as well as slight wear to the fuel selector valve connection point (male receptacle). The combined wear patterns of both the fuel selector valve handle and the fuel selector valve connection point allowed the installation of the fuel selector handle 180 degrees from its correct position. When a new fuel selector valve handle was fitted onto the valve connection point, it could only be installed in the correct position, and not 180 degrees from the correct installation.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The improper [reversed] installation of the fuel selector handle by maintenance personnel.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/8/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1727 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Bethel |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99559 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 604902N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1614606W |
| Event Location Airport | -- |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1553 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BET |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 123 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2100 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.19 |
| 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) | 23411 |
| NTSB Notification Source | ANC FAA, ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 8 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 30 2008 1:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Anchorage FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N720 |
| NTSB Number | ANC07LA077 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 185 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18504334 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 0.1 |
| Airframe Hours | 2754.2 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | U.S. Department of the Interior |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4405 Lear Court |
| Aircraft Owner City | Anchorage |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99502 |
| 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) | Positioning |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | BET |
| Departure City | Bethel |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1725 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | Z58 |
| Destination City | Bethel |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 7 2008 7:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |