Pilot Debrief

CIRRUS DESIGN CORP SR22 near Bakersfield, CA — 2024-10-02

Investigation ongoingWPR25LA001
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Date
2024-10-02
Location
Bakersfield, CA, USA
Airport
BFL
Aircraft
CIRRUS DESIGN CORP SR22
Registration
N752B
Category
Airplane
Highest injury
Serious
Fatalities
0

Probable cause

NTSB has not published a probable cause for this accident yet. Preliminary reports describe what happened; the cause is determined later, often 12–24 months after the event.

NTSB narrative

On October 2, 2024, about 1347 Pacific daylight time, a Cirrus SR22, N752B, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Bakersfield, California. The pilot was seriously injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. According to the pilot, he refueled the airplane and departed Tulare, California, with about 75 gallons of 100 low lead aviation grade gasoline onboard and the low boost pump on. After departure, he climbed to 13,000 ft mean sea level (msl). When the pilot turned the low boost pump off the engine immediately started to run rough and began misfiring. The pilot then declared an emergency and the engine started to lose power. He attempted to run the engine on the high boost pump, which reduced the engine roughness; however, he was unsuccessful in restoring engine power. At 1,200 ft msl, he identified a potential landing area and pulled the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System, but the parachute did not deploy. The pilot stated that he didn't pull the CAPS activation handle hard enough as the parachute deployed immediately after he pulled the handle a second time. The pilot did not recall any further details from his recount of the accident. Surveillance video captured the airplane’s final 4 seconds of flight, which showed the airplane’s shadow as it traversed a road. The airplane and its parachute came into view in the remaining two seconds of video, which showed it impact the ground in a nose low and right wing low attitude. The parachute then settled near the main wreckage. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that fuselage and right wing was substantially damaged. The airplane has been retained for further examination.

Preliminary NTSB coding

  • Loss of engine power (partial) · Enroute-cruise
  • Engine Failure Enroute
View NTSB preliminary report

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