Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Madera, California
Sunday, June 8, 2014 16:30 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On June 8, 2014, about 1630 Pacific daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Super Glasair TT, N400MC, was substantially damaged during an off-airport forced landing near Madera, California. The owner-pilot was not injured. The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) flight plan was filed for the flight.
According to the pilot, he was enroute from McClellan-Palomar airport, Carlsbad, California (CRQ) to Reno/Stead airport (RTS), Reno, Nevada in order to provide training to pilots participating in the upcoming Reno Air Races. He was cruising at an altitude of 10,500 feet, and was not in communication with air traffic control. The airplane has a single 60 gallon capacity fuel tank, and was equipped with two separate means to determine fuel quantity; a capacitance-type quantity gauging system, and a totalizer system that subtracts fuel used from initial fuel quantity.
Shortly before the event, the pilot noted that the totalizer indicated a remaining quantity of 38 gallons, and a fuel burn rate of 15 gallons per hour, which indicated that he had sufficient fuel for the remainder of the flight. Until the event, all systems and operations were normal. At some point during cruise, in rapid succession, the pilot noticed a fuel smell, and the engine lost power, although it continued to windmill. The totalizer indicated that 37 gallons remained, but the capacitance system indicated that the fuel tank was empty. The engine was a Lycoming TIO-580 series.
The pilot initially turned towards Fresno, with the intent to land at an airport there, but then opted to land off airport on a road instead. He observed a road that was long and straight, and appeared to be free of powerlines and other obstructions, and set up for landing on that road. However, after the pilot had deployed the landing gear and was "committed" to that landing selection, he noticed that there was more traffic than he was comfortable with, and therefore opted to land on the verge of the road. Since the verge was unpaved, the landing gear separated from the airplane after touchdown. The right wing struck the vegetation and a wire fence that bounded the verge, and the airplane came to a stop off the right side of the road.
Shortly after the accident, FAA personnel and the pilot decowled the airplane. They observed that a steel B-nut on the line between the fuel pump and the fuel flow sensor had come loose, which allowed all the fuel to be pumped overboard. The B-nut had torque stripe on it but no provisions to be safetied, and the B-nut had backed off.
The pilot, who was also the builder, reported that he conducted the bulk of the maintenance on his airplane. He held an air transport pilot certificate, and was a current airline pilot and former military pilot. He had about 750 hours in the accident airplane make and model.
The 1453 automated weather observation at Madera Municipal airport (MAE), Madera, California, located about 10 miles west-northwest of the accident site, included winds from 290 degrees at 7 knots, visibility 10 miles, clear skies, temperature 38 degrees C, dew point 7 degrees C, and an altimeter setting of 29.69 inches of mercury.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/8/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1630 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Madera |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 290 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MAE |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| 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) | 38 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| 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) | 29.69 |
| 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) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 12 2014 3:37PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N400MC |
| NTSB Number | WPR14LA237 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CRAIG W SHERMAN |
| Aircraft Model | SUPER GLASAIR TT |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | NO SERIES |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 101 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 6 2014 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SHERMAN CRAIG W |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | CARLSBAD |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 920083662 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | SHERMAN CRAIG W |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | CARLSBAD |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 920083662 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CRQ |
| Departure City | Carlsbad |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | RTS |
| 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 | Jun 12 2014 3:37PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |