Oceanside, CA, USA
N10JA
CESSNA 208B
On February 24, 2022, at 1245 Pacific standard time, a Cessna C208B Supervan 900 airplane, N10JA, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident in Oceanside, California. The pilot and passenger were seriously injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91 skydiving flight. The pilot stated that the passenger, who is also a pilot, had planned to observe the skydiving operation over the course of the day. Earlier in the day, the pilot had conducted three flights to drop off skydivers at an altitude of about 13,000 feet mean sea level (msl). On the fourth flight, the airplane departed runway 25 and made a gradual climb to 12,700 ft msl. The skydivers departed the airplane, and the pilot initiated a steep, turning descent in excess of 6,400 ft per min (fpm). The pilot stated that he set the power to idle and recalled the torque gauge indicated 0%. When the airplane was on the base leg of the traffic pattern to runway 25, at an altitude of about 4,000 ft msl, the pilot attempted to arrest the descent by adding power (see picture 1 below). Picture 1: Flight Path on Accident Flight The pilot further stated that despite his attempts to add power, his movement of the power lever was unresponsive, and the engine thrust did not increase. He moved the propeller speed lever, which was also unresponsive. The pilot presumed the engine had flamed-out and attempted to restart it. With the propeller still windmilling, he switched the ignition to “continuous” and turned the boost-pump on. He observed the torque gauge increase from 0% to 20%, but the power lever was still unresponsive. He added full nose-up elevator trim and the control yoke was full aft, against the stop. Even with the full elevator inputs, the airplane could not maintain a level attitude. The airplane collided with terrain in a nose-low attitude about 1,400 ft short of the runway (see picture 2 below). The pilot did not feather the propeller during the flight. Picture 2: Flight Path on the Descent The passenger stated that before the flight, the pilot explained various flight sequences that are done for skydiving operations. The pilot said that he will occasionally use a beta setting in-flight as a means to perform a rapid descent. During the accident flight, the pilot told the passenger that he would use beta to descend and “race the skydivers to the ground.” After the skydivers departed, the pilot began a steep descent and retarded the power lever to beta mode. The passenger noted that fuel gauges indicated empty, and a low fuel light was illuminated, both of which he relayed to the pilot. The pilot responded by saying that the gauges were inaccurate. Shortly thereafter, while on the base leg of the traffic pattern, the pilot stated that he was going to make a right turn without using any rudder. The passenger further stated that the pilot initiated a steep right bank followed by a steep left bank. He recalled that the turns were all uncoordinated and the auxiliary fuel pump light was illuminated. The pilot began to move the power and propeller speed levers and then stated that they “lost the engine.” The airplane impacted terrain in a nose-low attitude. The passenger took several videos of the flights from his cell phone. The video from the accident flight showed that the fuel gauges were at empty, the propeller RPM was about 65% and the oil temperature and pressure were in the green arcs. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors that responded to the accident stated that the fuel tanks remained intact with no apparent perforations. Recovery personnel drained about 20 gallons of fuel from the airplane, all of which was in the right wing (the airplane came to rest in a right-wing low attitude). The airplane was recovered for further examination.
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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