Accident Details
On August 13, 2011, about 1400 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 210L, registration N732FY, collided with terrain at Boeing Field, Seattle, Washington. The airplane was operated by the pilot/owner under 14 CFR Part 91 as a cross-country personal flight. It departed Friday Harbor, Washington, about 1330, with Seattle as the planned destination. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan had been filed.
The private pilot and two passengers were not injured. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the horizontal stabilizer due to impact forces.
Pilot's Account
The pilot stated that the airplane was on approach to runway 13R and prepared for landing. She lowered the flaps to 10 degrees and placed the landing gear lever to the down position. As the gear was coming down, the airplane lost all electrical power. She quickly verified that no electrical power was available for the gear or radios. Since she had been cleared to land, she felt the safest course would be to land in the grass on the infield between the runways. She did not think there was time to manually pump the landing gear down, and she did not want to be distracted trying to lower the gear while flying the airplane and preparing her children for landing.
With the 10-degree flap setting, the pilot noted the airplane was a little faster than her normal approach. The landing was smooth, and no one was injured.
Examination Findings
Maintenance personnel from American Avionics, Seattle, examined the airplane under Federal Aviation Administration supervision. The original battery was found depleted. After jacking the airplane and connecting an auxiliary power unit, maintenance personnel performed a normal landing gear retraction and extension successfully. They then installed a shop battery and completed both normal retraction and emergency extensions.
Further inspection revealed that the landing gear warning horn did not sound at reduced throttle settings. A ground engine run showed that the overvoltage light was not functional. The AMP meter also did not function; it did not indicate negative or positive amps when the alternator was turned off and back on under high current loads.