Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Reno-Stead Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Reno, Nevada 89501
Saturday, June 18, 2011 14:50 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While being flown on an air race qualification/training flight, the experimental jet’s engine support mount, which had been recently installed to accommodate an increased-thrust engine modification, failed to keep the engine properly aligned. The resultant misalignment resulted in jet blast being directed onto and melting a portion of the rudder support structure. Although there was no indication of the problem in flight, during the landing roll, the pilot discovered that the rudder did not function properly, and directional control had to be maintained by alternate means. During the investigation, it was determined that five other racing airplanes of the same make and model had been modified in a similar manner and that there were slight structural variations and areas of poor welding associated with some of the mounts.
As a result of this accident, the manufacturer of the engine modification instituted a program to obtain an independent professional engineering analysis of the engine mount design. Later, in response to another accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued Safety Recommendation A-12-13, which asked the Reno Air Race Association (RARA) to require aircraft owners to provide an engineering evaluation for aircraft with any major modification. On August 27, 2012, pending receipt of further information showing that the process proposed by RARA specifically requires an owner of an aircraft with a major modification to provide an engineering evaluation that includes flight demonstrations and analysis within the anticipated flight envelope, the NTSB classified the recommendation Open-Acceptable Response.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of a modified engine mount to keep the engine properly aligned, which resulted in partial failure of the rudder support structure due to the deflection of the jet engine exhaust.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/18/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1450 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Reno |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89501 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 394002N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1195234W |
| Event Location Airport | Reno-Stead |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 4SD |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 19000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 26 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| 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) | 30404 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center (LAX) |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 30 2012 2:07PM |
| User who most recently changed record | snyg |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N37KF |
| NTSB Number | WPR11LA265 |
| 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 | AEROVODOCHODY |
| Aircraft Model | L-29 DELFIN |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 993233 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 10 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Ward Raju Mann |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Orinda |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94563 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Ward Raju Mann |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Orinda |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 94563 |
| 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) | Air Race/Show |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 4SD |
| Departure City | Reno |
| Departure State | NV |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1430 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 4SD |
| Destination City | Reno |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 31 2012 11:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26 |
| Runway Length | 7600 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |