Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Watsonville Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Watsonville, California 95072
Saturday, June 30, 2012 13:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the initial climb, the airplane’s engine started to vibrate violently and lost significant power. The flight instructor performed an emergency descent and landing to an open field. Postaccident examination of the engine’s dual carburetors found that 30 to 50 percent of the No. 2 main carburetor’s left main carburetor jet was blocked by foreign material. The float inside the carburetor float chamber showed signs of flaking on the corner edges; the material was consistent with that found in the carburetor jet.
Engine test runs conducted with the main jet reduced to about 50 percent of its original size revealed that the blockage resulted in the partial loss of engine power, indicating that the accident engine’s power loss directly resulted from the blockage of the left carburetor's main jet. Manufacturer Service Instruction 912-021 states that the engine’s carburetors are to be removed and inspected every 200 hours due to several carburetors previously being found with contamination in the float chamber. The instruction warns that such contamination could possibly cause a partial or complete blockage of the idle or main jet or other ducts vital for operation and lead to poor performance or stoppage of the engine. Maintenance records revealed that the required 200-hour carburetor removal and inspection had been completed 2 days before the accident. During the inspection, maintenance personnel should have seen and replaced the visibly deteriorated carburetor float, removed the carburetor main jet, and blown air through the jet channels with compressed air to ensure that the passage was clear, which most likely would have prevented the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A partial loss of engine power during initial climb due to the blockage of the carburetor’s main jet by deteriorated float material. Contributing to the accident was an inadequate maintenance inspection by maintenance personnel.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/30/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1300 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Watsonville |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95072 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 365523N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1214754E |
| Event Location Airport | Watsonville Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | WVI |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 180 |
| Airport Elevation | 163 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1253 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | WVI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 163 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| 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) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 230 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.02 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 32261 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional 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 | Nov 14 2013 12:42PM |
| User who most recently changed record | litt |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N308TA |
| NTSB Number | WPR12LA281 |
| 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 | TECNAM |
| Aircraft Model | P2002 SIERRA |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 428 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1320 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 28 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4 |
| Airframe Hours | 809 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Richard Moss |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Santa Cruz |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95018 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Ocean Air Flying Services |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Watsonville |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 95072 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | WVI |
| Departure City | Watsonville |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1300 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | WVI |
| Destination City | Watsonville |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 14 2013 12:43PM |
| User who most recently changed record | litt |
| 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 | -- |