- Date
- September 30, 1993, 08:30 local (14:30 UTC)
- Place
- Edgewood, NM
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N777HBCessna 310Q
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report August 1, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19930930037169A
- Case key
- 18840
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
A propeller control unit failure, and loss of the pilot's option to feather the propeller. A factor was the lack of suitable terrain for a forced landing.
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
While on a VFR cross country flight, the left propeller control ring failed and the left propeller could not be feathered. The pilot shut down the engine due to vibration, declared an emergency, and was vectored to the nearest airport. Unable to make it to the runway, the pilot made a forced landing short of the runway on unsuitable terrain and the right main landing gear collapsed during landing roll.
Factual narrative
On September 30, 1993, at 0830 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 310Q, N777HB, impacted the ground short of the runway during a forced landing at Sandia Airpark, Edgewood, New Mexico. The pilot and his two passengers were not injured and the aircraft sustained substantial damage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a VFR flight plan was on file. The flight departed Clovis, New Mexico, at 0700 with a filed destination of Saint George, Utah.
Examination of the aircraft by FAA personnel provided evidence that the left engine propeller control ring and counter weights came off causing a loss of control of the propeller and eliminating the ability of the pilot to feather the propeller. According to the pilot, he secured that engine due to vibration and was unable to maintain flight on the remaining engine due to excessive drag from the propeller. He said he attempted a forced landing at Animas Airpark, being vectored to that facility by Albuquerque Center. Unable to extend the flight, he landed approximately 150 feet short of the runway on rough terrain and the right main landing gear collapsed during landing roll.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N777HB
- Reported as
- Cessna 310Q
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 310Q-0073
- Airframe hours
- 5,295
- Engine
- Continental IO-470-VO, 260 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Mclellan Afb Aero Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · August 20, 1993 · 58 hours before
- Departed
- CVN · Clovis, NM
- Destination
- SGU · Saint George, UT
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- NM51 · Sandia Airpark, East, runway 27, 5,280 × 30 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 45
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,450 total · 24 in this make and model · 385 as pilot in command · 13 in the last 90 days · 13 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 60 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 28 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ABQ, 100 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.