- Date
- July 17, 1985, 18:10 local (23:10 UTC)
- Place
- Gatesville, TX
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N7620EBellanca 14-19-3
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19850717036349A
- Case key
- 21801
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The acft was destroyed by fire after executing an emergency landing following an inflight fire and eng failure. Shortly after takeoff the plt smelled electrical insulation overheating and noticed a decrease in fuel pressure. Fire broke out on the left side of the eng cowl. The acft was landed hard due to restricted visibiity from smoke entering the cockpit. Suspect that the seal on the eng mounted fuel pump failed allowing fuel to leak from the pump housing fire damage to the pump precluded exact identification of the failure mode.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N7620E
- Reported as
- Bellanca 14-19-3
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 4122
- Airframe hours
- 89
- Engine
- Continental IO-470, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- In-Flight
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- David E. Brittian
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 6, 1984 · 75 hours before
- Destination
- 7F7 · Clifton, TX
- Airport
- 05F · Gateville Municipal, runway 18, 3,400 × 50 ft, asphalt
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 63
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Unknown, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 526 total · 300 in this make and model · 526 as pilot in command · 2 in the last 90 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 140° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 12 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 99 °F, dew point 64 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ACT, 20 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.