20011225036929A

(.19) On December 25, 2001, at 1506 hours pacific standard time, a Cessna 172N, N738BC, reported engine problems and ditched in the pacific ocean about 1/4-mile offshore from san clemente, California. Security aviation was operating the rental airplane under the provisions of 14 CFR part 91. The private pilot sustained serious injuries, one passenger sustained fatal injuries, and one passenger is missing and presumed to be deceased. The airplane was destroyed, but the wreckage was located under water and recovered. The personal cross-country flight departed mcclellen/Palomar field (crq), Carlsbad, California, at 1449 en route to its home base at hawthorne (hhr), California. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed. The primary wreckage was at 33 degrees 20.02 minutes north latitude and 117 degrees 30.26 minutes west longitude. The operator reported that the pilot scheduled the airplane for a flight on Tuesday, December 25, between the hours of 1000 and 1400, and the pilot came in on Monday to get the keys. The operator's records show the previous flight in the airplane occurred on Sunday, December 23. The records show that flight lasted 0.7 hours, and the last pilot refueled the airplane with 3.56 gallons of fuel, which he said filled the tanks. Socal TRACON provided the airplane with flight following. The pilot reported to the controller that he was experiencing engine problems and he was going to dead stick the airplane. The airplane sank about 300 yards offshore. Local authorities rescued the pilot and recovered one victim. Search and rescue units located the wreckage on Wednesday, December 26, and a recovery agent retrieved the wreckage onto a barge on December 27. The safety board investigator-in-charge (iic) instructed the recovery agent to rinse the engine with fresh water, drain water from the engine and cylinders, and apply a lubricant inside the cylinders and magnetos. Investigators from the safety board, the federal aviation administration, Textron Lycoming, and Cessna aircraft company examined the wreckage on December 28, 2001. Investigators disconnected the fuel line to the carburetor. They drained approximately 1-gallon of a murky blue fluid that smelled like gasoline from the line before the fluid primarily turned to a milky color. About 50 gallons of fluid was drained from the wings, and about half of the fluid was blue and the rest was milky color. With the fuel selector positioned to both, investigators blew through the disconnected line and heard air enter the fuel tanks in both wings. They did not hear any air sounds from any of the connecting lines or fittings. Investigators removed the top spark plugs and did not observe any mechanical damage to them. The Lycoming representative inspected the interior of the cylinders with a borescope. He did not observe any mechanical deformation on the valves or cylinder heads, and observed normal combustion deposits on the pistons. Investigators manually rotated the propeller and obtained thumb compression on all cylinders. They observed similar valve lift on all cylinders, the valve train moved freely, and the vacuum pump drive gear rotated. The Lycoming O-320-H2AD engine was equipped with a teledyne Continental D-3000 dual magneto (both magnetos are contained in a single housing and driven by one drive gear). During engine rotation, investigators did not hear a strong click from the impulse coupling, and they could not obtain spark from the ignition leads. They removed the magnetos and observed the magneto drive gear on the crankshaft rotate freely. They rotated the magnetos manually and noted that they rotated freely. The safety board iic took the magnetos and ignition harness to an accessory shop for inspection. The repairman connected the magnetos and ignition harness to a test stand, and the magnetos did not fire. The repairman disconnected the harness from the magnetos and noted that the impulse coupling did not snap briskly when he manually rotated the magneto. The repairman cleaned the magnetos and reconnected them to the test stand using a test harness. He observed flash crossover from the coil to ground. He separated the distributor block from the magneto and cleaned the unit. He removed the impulse coupling to set the timing and found a broken coupling spring. He reassembled the magnetos without the impulse coupling and reconnected it to the test stand. One magneto fired continuously on all four leads. The other magneto fired intermittently on three leads (the repairman pointed out that the fourth lead appeared to be defective and some corrosion remained on the contacts). (-23) Mr. Jamal muhammad and two passengers flew from hawthorn CA. To Palomar (crq) and were returning to hawthorn when he crashed his C-172 into the ocean off san onofre, CA near the power plant. Camp pendelton fire department was the first to respond and rescued Mr. Muhammad from the water. It appears the female passenger had exited the aircraft but was found dead near the wreckage in the water. The second passenger has not been recovered. The aircraft was recovered from 34 feet of water and was transported to longbeach. The NTSB, FAA, nis (naval investigative service), Cessna and Lycoming reps all met there 28 December 2001 to examine the aircraft. Mr. Muhammad has been unable to be interviewed to date. Additional wreckage picked up from the encinitas s.d.