MIA03FA005

N5247A crashed about 0.5 NM southeast of Merritt Island Airport, Cocoa, Florida, shortly after takeoff. The airline transport-rated pilot received fatal injuries, and the airplane incurred substantial damage. Witnesses stated that on the afternoon of the accident, they observed the pilot enter the accident airplane and while starting the No. 2 engine, they described it as "missing, sputtering, and back firing." During the takeoff roll and the initial climb, the engine continued to make the noises the witnesses described and as the airplane was climbing out, when at an altitude of about 50 to 75 feet, witnesses also noted that the No. 2 engine's propeller had ceased rotating and that the airplane was being banked toward the No. 2 engine. the witnesses noted that the throughout the initial climb the pitch attitude remained nose high, and the pitch was not reduced, even after the right side propeller had ceased rotating. They stated that they watched as the nose high turn continued to the right, and saw the aircraft descend, disappearing behind the trees, followed by the sound of an engine racing momentarily, followed by the sound of the impact with the ground. Examination of the engines, airframe and flight controls did not reveal any preaccident anomalies.

History of flight

On October 22, 2002, about 1530 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 310, N5247A, registered to and operated by a private individual, as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, crashed shortly after taking off from Merritt Island Airport, Merritt Island, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed. The airline transport-rated pilot received fatal injuries, and the airplane incurred substantial damage. The flight was originating at the time of the accident.

A witness, who is an airframe and powerplant mechanic, stated that he always saw the pilot with his tool box, working on the right engine. He further stated that he would observe the pilot fly the airplane, return, and open the cowling and begin to work on the engine. The day of the accident flight, he said he saw the pilot start the airplane, perform the ground "run-up", and as he watched the start, taxi, and takeoff on runway 11, the whole time the right engine sounded as if it was missing and sputtering. He said that the airplane appeared to climb very slowly and continued to backfire, and while at an altitude of about 40 to 50 feet, he watched the airplane at a nose high attitude, heard the right engine which had been making the loud noises cease operating, and saw that the right propeller was not spinning. He said the attitude remained nose high and was never reduced. As he watched, he witnessed the airplane in a shallow right turn, at a low altitude with a nose high attitude, and it descended below the trees. Soon after he said heard a loud impact.

A Brevard County Sheriff's deputy located in a building near the departure end of runway 11 stated that he thought someone had been banging on the door very loudly, and he came out to see who it was and was then able to distinguish that it was the accident airplane. He said that the engine was backfiring very loud, to the extent that it rattled the building's windows. He stated that he went back inside the building and remarked to others that the no person should be attempting to fly that airplane, but should taxi back to parking and get it repaired.

Another witness stated that he was inside a hangar, near the entrance, and as he was welding, he heard the engine from the time it was started, and it was "crackling, popping, and had lots of backfiring" during the start, taxi, run up, and takeoff. He said he watched the airplane takeoff from runway 11, and while about 600 feet from the threshold of runway 29 he heard a loud popping noise, and then the noise ceased. The witness said that as he watched the airplane, he noticed that the propeller of the right engine had stopped spinning, and the airplane was turning to the right toward the side where the propeller had ceased operating. He said the airplane also remained in a nose high attitude while turning, and then it disappeared from his sight behind the trees, followed my a momentary sound of the engine "screaming" at a high rpm setting, followed by the loud sound of an impact, and then there was silence.

Personnel information

FAA records indicate that the pilot held an FAA airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate, with an airplane multiengine land rating, with commercial privileges single engine land, and was type-rated in the Boeing 747. In addition, he held a flight engineer-turbojet powered certificate, last issued on October 8, 2002; and airframe and powerplant mechanic certificate, issued on May 5, 1988; and an inspection authorization rating issued on March 10, 1997. He also held a ground instructor certificate with advanced and instrument ratings, issued May 10, 1989, as well as an FAA first class medical certificate, with no stated waivers or limitations, which had been issued on October 2, 2002.

According to pilot FAA records and information obtained from the pilot's logbook, he had accumulated at least 1,620 flight hours of experience, of which about 127 had been completed in the last 6 months.

Aircraft information

N5247A is a 1956 Cessna 310 , serial number 35447. The aircraft was first delivered on October 3, 1956, and the accident pilot registered the airplane on June 11, 2001. The airplane was equipped with two Teledyne Continental Motors O-470M, 240 horsepower engines.

The left engine's serial number was 52051-7-M, and it had an accumulated about 24 hours since major overhaul. The left engine had been installed by the owner on July 11, 2002, after being overhauled.

The right engine's serial number was 51649-7-M, and it had accumulated about 3743.2 hours as of October 9, 2002, of which about 630 hours had been accumulated since major overhaul. The logbook shows the right engine had last been overhauled on September 17, 1982, and the last maintenance that had been performed on it was an oil change on October 9, 2002. According to the pilot's father, his son had been planning to overhaul the right engine in the near future.

The airplane was also equipped with two two-bladed constant speed Hartzell propellers. The left propeller's serial number was AN-7290B, and the right one's serial number was AN7291B, and their times in service are unknown.

At the time of the accident, the aircraft had accumulated about 3,868 total flight hours. On July 11, 2002, about 30 flight hours before the accident, the pilot conducted an annual inspection on the accident airplane.

Meteorological information

Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The Titusville Space Coast Regional Airport, Titusville, Florida, 1550, surface weather observation was, wind from 130 degrees at 8 knots, visibility 7 statute miles, scattered clouds at 2,000 feet, temperature 89 degrees F, dewpoint temperature 19 degrees F, altimeter setting 30.03 inHg. The computed density altitude was about 1,500 feet. The Titusville Space Coast Regional Airport is located 18 NM north of the accident site.

Wreckage and impact information

The airplane impacted the swamp, about 0.5 NM southeast of the airport, about equidistant with the departure end of runway 11, in a thicket of mangroves, in about 2 to 3 feet of swampy water in geographic position 28 degrees, 20.025 minutes North latitude, 080 degrees, 40.976 West longitude. N5247A impacted at about a 45-degree nose-down pitch attitude, and came to rest upright on a magnet heading of about 250 degrees, All airplane wreckage was located and found to be in the immediate vicinity, and the airplane had incurred heavy impact damage to its nose and undersurface with the front of the airplane having been pushed aft and upwards from the bottom. In addition, there was damage to the wings, with the "crushed lines" of about a 45-degree angle. The main/tip tanks had separated/breeched during impact, and there was the smell of fuel in the water around the aircraft. The inboard/auxiliary tanks were intact and nearly full of fuel.

After recovery from the swamp by helicopter, the airplane was further examined. The fuselage had fractured aft of the cabin seat position in the area of the baggage compartment. The empennage had remained attached, and had incurred little damage except for the left elevator. There had been no indications of a fire having occurred, and damage was consistent with that from the impact. Control continuity was established for roll, pitch and yaw from the primary flight control surfaces to the cockpit, and the elevator and rudder trim tabs were verified to be in their neutral position.

The left throttle was observed to be full forward, and the right throttle was about 1 1/2 inch back. Both mixture controls were full rich, the left propeller control lever was aft about 1 inch and the right propeller control lever was full forward. The flap position indicator was unreliable, and showed a reading that was off the scale, but the flap was verified to have been up by the indication at the flap gear box. The landing gear box