Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
El Monte Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
El Monte, California 91731
Thursday, June 23, 2011 18:45 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane had just undergone an avionics and flight instrument upgrade, completed on the morning of the accident. The pilot had intended to fly the airplane on a cross-country flight later in the day; however, subsequent flights revealed a discrepancy in the fuel pressure indication system and the airplane was returned to the maintenance facility, where the problems were resolved later that afternoon. This was to be the first time the pilot had flown the airplane solo since the system upgrade and, although he was instrument rated, he did not want to perform an instrument flight rules approach with the new avionics. He was now in a hurry to depart and performed a cursory preflight inspection. He could not recall if he checked the fuel tank quantity or used a checklist. Ten minutes into the flight the engine experienced a total loss of power. The pilot was convinced that the loss of power was caused by a maintenance oversight and did not switch fuel tanks, perform any troubleshooting steps, or review the emergency checklist. He performed a forced landing and inadvertently allowed the airplane to stall as it turned from the base leg to the final leg of the traffic pattern. The airplane landed hard, bending both wing spars, collapsing the right main landing gear, and separating the nose gear. A postaccident examination revealed that the left fuel tank was empty and that the fuel selector valve was set to the left tank. The fuel lines from the selector valve to the engine were devoid of fuel. Additionally, data extracted from the engine monitoring system revealed that the pilot departed with an almost full right tank but limited quantities of fuel in the left tank. The data indicated that he subsequently continued the flight until the fuel in the left tank became exhausted.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed during the forced landing, which resulted in an aerodynamic stall and hard landing. Contributing to the accident was the loss of engine power due to fuel starvation as a result of the pilot's improper fuel management.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/23/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1845 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | El Monte |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 91731 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340510n |
| Event Location Longitude | 1180205w |
| Event Location Airport | El Monte |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | EMT |
| 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 | 296 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1847 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CQT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 150 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| 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) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.88 |
| 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) | 28855 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 8 2011 5:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2206L |
| NTSB Number | WPR11LA283 |
| 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 | BEECH |
| Aircraft Model | A36 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | E-917 |
| 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 | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Feb 1 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 12 |
| Airframe Hours | 2821 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BERNARD M DIAMOND MD INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | HIDDEN HILLS |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91302-1229 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | BERNARD M DIAMOND MD INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | HIDDEN HILLS |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 91302-1229 |
| 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 | CNO |
| Departure City | Chino |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1835 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CMA |
| Destination City | Camarillo |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 8 2011 5:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 01 |
| Runway Length | 3995 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |