Cessna 310C N3311H

Summary

On 22 March 2000 at about 23:30 local time, a Cessna 310C registered N3311H was involved in an accident near Cedar City, Utah, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

22 March 2000 at 23:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Cedar City, Utah, United States

Coordinates

37.5901, -113.1895

Aircraft

Cessna 310C

Registration

N3311H

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN00LA066

Nobody was injured.

The failure of the right engine mixture control cable, which prevented the pilot from restarting the engine. Contributing factors were the pilot's failure to follow procedures by not feathering the right propeller, the rough terrain, and the high vegetation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor said that he shut down the right engine to practice single engine flight. Attempts to restart the engine were unsuccessful (it was later determined that the mixture control cable had failed). The pilot did not feather the right engine, and he reported that the left engine was providing insufficient power to maintain flight. The flight instructor performed a gear down landing in the rough, brush covered desert. The owner of the airplane said that the practice engine shut down was performed at 9,500 feet mean sea level, or approximately 3,800 feet above the terrain. He said that the practice maneuver was not initiated over a landing airfield, but that two were available within 5 miles of this location. The airplane's Owner's Manual performance section indicates that the single engine best rate of climb would be from 50 feet per minute to 250 feet per minute, depending on altitude and outside air temperature. A manufacturer's representative said that a non-feathered propeller would reduce the rate of climb by approximately 400 feet per minute, and landing gear extended would reduce it an additional 300 feet per minute.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.