20181117022699A

On November 17, 2018, at approximately 13:00 LCL, a Scottish Aviation ?bulldog? (N82696) crash landed in the north west section of lake pleasant. The flight originated from deer valley airport (kdvt). According to the pilot, he had intended to perform a local sightseeing flight with his nephew that day and planned to take off and land at kdvt with no other intermediate stops.

Approximately twenty minutes after takeoff, while the aircraft was flying from east to west over lake pleasant, having departed from a left downwind of runways 7, the engine shook then quit according to the pilot. Per the pilot?s statement, the aircraft was around 700? AGL when this happened. The pilot pitched the aircraft nose down to ensure the propeller would continue to windmill and started the engine restart procedure. The engine was restarted for a brief moment at a low altitude over the lake. The pilot stated that the engine was making only fifty percent power. He initially decided to turn towards pleasant valley airport for a landing but the engine quit again. The pilot then turned towards the castle creek boat ramp for a possible landing there but was too low. He then decided to ditch into the water near a boat in order to be quickly rescued. At the time of the impact, witnesses testified that the propeller was spinning. The aircraft ditched with the flaps in the retracted position at about 80 knots per the pilot?s statement. According to witnesses, the passenger, and the pilot, both occupants were out of the aircraft in less than a minute after the airplane collided with the water. The aircraft sank below the water in less than two minutes. Both occupants were rescued by the nearby boat and taken to shore for medical attention. The aircraft was recovered from the lake on December 10, 2018, placed on a trailer, and taken to the house of an employee who works for the company that performed the recovery (commercial divers international). Two inspectors from the FSDO were able to inspect the aircraft on December 17, 2018. On that date, the airplane was transferred from the employee?s house to the facilities of the dive school, commercial divers international. One inspector asked the employee who had taken custody of the airplane if anyone had tempered with it other than during the recovery effort. The employee replied that, to his knowledge, no one had tempered with the airplane. The inspection revealed that the fuselage, empennage, engine, and the left wing had been recovered. The right wing was missing and still in the lake. The engine cowling was missing other than a couple sheared pieces which were still attached. Inspectors found the following during the inspection:

?Documents in the airplane to include airworthiness certificates, aircraft registrations, checklists, airport information documents, and experimental operating limitations.

?Personnel of the dive school removed the aircraft data plate located on the firewall and voluntarily gave the data plate to the inspectors per FAA order 8100.19.

?The propeller moved freely (although both blades were bent rearward).

?The dipstick revealed that several quarts of oil were still in the engine. The oil had also leaked onto the trailer the airplane was resting on. A visual inspection of the oil showed no metal shavings.

?The left magneto was unbolted and as the propeller was spun by hand, the inspectors noticed the rear accessory drive gear being operational.

?The fuel feed lines exiting the fuselage at the root of the wing were inspected. Those lines, on both sides of the airplane, showed extensive wear with the outer lining being completely frayed and inner lining being dry-rotted.

?The gascolator retainer nut was missing a safety wire. Fuel staining was noticed on the gascolator bowl.

?The left wing fuel tank were empty due to the airplane being in the water for so long.