NTSB Abstract AAR-09/01

Aircraft Accident Summary Report
In-Flight Fire, Emergency Descent and
Crash in a Residential Area
Cessna 310R, N501N
Sanford, Florida,
July 10, 2007

NTSB Number AAR-09/01
NTIS Number PB2009-910401
PDF Document (653.16 KB)

Executive Summary: On July 10, 2007, about 0835 eastern daylight time, a Cessna Aircraft Company 310R, N501N, part of the fleet operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) corporate aviation division, crashed while performing an emergency diversion to Orlando Sanford International Airport, Orlando, Florida. The two pilots on board the airplane (a commercial pilot and an airline transport pilot) and three people on the ground were killed. Four people on the ground received serious injuries. The airplane and two homes were destroyed by impact forces and a postcrash fire. The personal flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 on an instrument flight rules flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable causes of this accident were the actions and decisions by NASCAR’s corporate aviation division’s management and maintenance personnel to allow the accident airplane to be released for flight with a known and unresolved discrepancy, and the accident pilots’ decision to operate the airplane with that known discrepancy, a discrepancy that likely resulted in an in-flight fire.

This report discusses safety issues related to the resetting of circuit breakers, the inspection and maintenance of electrical systems in general aviation aircraft, and the establishment of Safety Management Systems in general aviation corporate operations.

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