Cessna T210L N29058

Summary

On 4 November 1998 at about 23:58 local time, a Cessna T210L registered N29058, operated by Johnny W. Morris, was involved in an accident near Lodi, California, United States. 5 people were on board and one died, 4 were seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

4 November 1998 at 23:58

Classification

Accident

Location

Lodi, California, United States

Coordinates

38.1104, -121.1596

Aircraft

Cessna T210L

Registration

N29058

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Johnny W. Morris

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Bozeman → San Carlos

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX99LA024

1 person died.

Fuel exhaustion due to a leaking engine driven fuel pump nose seal, which increased the engine fuel consumption rate above the published performance chart values.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

After passing an airport, and still about 30 minutes from his destination, the pilot told a passenger that they were getting low on fuel and would turn around to land and refuel. Shortly thereafter, the pilot announced that they were running out of gas and that they needed a road to land on. At this time, the engine quit and the pilot switch to the other fuel tank in an attempt to restart the engine with no success. The airplane collided with trees and crashed in a dry riverbed. Examination of the engine disclosed no evidence of an internal failure. A leak was found in the nose seal of the engine driven fuel pump, which allowed fuel to leak out through the unit's overboard vent drain. The leak was quantified at 3 to 4 gallons per hour at cruise power settings. Disassembly of the unit revealed an area of rust etching on the driveshaft. The airplane carried a total of 89 usable gallons of fuel and had an approximate 13.83-gallon per hour fuel consumption rate at 65 percent power. The airplane was airborne for 4.9 hours, and would have used about 67.7 gallons of fuel. A 4-gallon per hour leak rate through the fuel pump nose seal would have leaked 19.6 gallons, for a total fuel usage of 87.3 gallons.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.