Beechcraft A36 N17803

Summary

On 15 November 2009 at about 00:15 local time, a Beechcraft A36 registered N17803, operated by David E. Flotho, was involved in an accident near San Gabriel, California, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 November 2009 at 00:15

Classification

Accident

Location

San Gabriel, California, United States

Coordinates

34.1000, -118.0836

Aircraft

Beechcraft A36

Registration

N17803

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

David E. Flotho

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

La Verne → Van Nuys

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR10FA056

1 person died.

Failure of the exhaust band V-clamp during cruise flight, which resulted in an in-flight fire and a subsequent forced landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

About 15 minutes after takeoff, witnesses observed the airplane make a forced landing adjacent to a railroad track. The airplane touched down partially on the track and bounced several times before coming to rest about 500 yards beyond the initial point of impact. The witnesses reported that the engine was at idle power during the shallow approach. The fuselage and engine area were thermally damaged and the pilot suffered fatal injuries due to a fire. A postaccident examination revealed that a section of the upper left cowling had localized fire damage that was not attributed to the postimpact fire. The left cowling was placed in its normal position just forward of the airplane fuselage. A matching thermal pattern was noted in a small section of the airplane skin just aft of the firewall. Further examination revealed that the left exhaust system transition pipe and V-band clamp had separated from the engine and that the V-band clamp exhibited evidence of corrosion. A metallurgical examination of the V-band clamp revealed that it had fractured through the strap adjacent to a gap between the V-shaped clamping segments. The separation was a result of an overstress fracture of the strap, which was already weakened due to localized oxidation. It is likely that the failure of this clamp resulted in the initiation of an in-flight fire in the engine compartment area.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.