Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Furnace Creek Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Furnace Creek, California 92328
Saturday, January 29, 2011 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A witness reported observing the airplane take off to the south and stated that the ground operations and takeoff appeared to be normal. The wreckage was located 2 days later on a flat, dry salt lake bed 7 miles south of the departure airport. The surface of the ground was deep jagged salt deposits, with crevasses between 6 and 18 inches deep, and unsuitable for making a successful off-field landing.
During the postaccident engine examination, the single-drive dual magneto was found mounted on the accessory pad and could be easily rotated by hand. The magneto had sustained no apparent impact damage and remained in good condition externally. Further examination of the attachment hardware found all required mounting studs, lock washers, and respective nuts to be in place and undamaged. The magneto clamps, respective magneto flange, and the accessory case interface areas exhibited wear signatures consistent with fretting, which suggested that the clamps were not securely fastened. These signatures were most prominent on the lower clamps and flange area. The magneto flange remained intact and revealed no evidence of cracking. It is likely that this could have produced a partial power loss, which led to the pilot’s decision to make an off-airport landing. No other mechanical failures or malfunctions were found that would have precluded normal operation. The airplane had accumulated about 10 hours since the last annual inspection. No maintenance records were located to determine if further maintenance had been performed on the engine since the inspection 5 months prior to the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The magneto clamps were not securely fastened to the mount, which led to a partial loss of engine power and a subsequent forced landing on unsuitable terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/29/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 0 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Furnace Creek |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92328 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 362150N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1165158W |
| Event Location Airport | Furnace Creek Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | L06 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 7 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -210 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1455 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DRA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 42 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| 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) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 30360 |
| NTSB Notification Source | National Park Service |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 29 2012 2:15PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N50BJ |
| NTSB Number | WPR11FA114 |
| 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 | MOONEY |
| Aircraft Model | M20J |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24-0657 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3374 |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 11 2010 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 10 |
| Airframe Hours | 1713 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Bruce Jackson |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Culver City |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90230 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Bruce Jackson |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Culver City |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 90230 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | L06 |
| Departure City | Furnace Creek |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SMO |
| Destination City | Santa Monica |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 29 2012 2:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |