31 Aug 2019: Cessna 510

31 Aug 2019: Cessna 510 (N551WH) — Unknown operator

No fatalities • El Monte, CA, United States

Probable cause

The pilot's failure to disengage the parking brake before takeoff, which resulted in decreased acceleration and a subsequent runway overrun following an aborted takeoff.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On August 31, 2019, about 1105 Pacific daylight time, a Cessna 510 airplane, N551WH, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near El Monte, California. The airline transport pilot and passenger sustained minor injuries. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot reported that, while holding short of the runway while waiting for his takeoff clearance, he set the parking brake. Upon obtaining his takeoff clearance, he reached down to the parking brake handle and, "quickly pushed the parking brakes back in." During the takeoff roll, he noticed that the airplane was not accelerating beyond about 70 knots and decided to abort the takeoff. The airplane subsequently veered to the left, exited the runway, impacted a fence, and came to rest upright about 800 ft beyond the departure end of the runway. The pilot stated that he must not have pushed the parking brake handle all the way in, and that he never visually verified its position before takeoff. The pilot further reported that there were no mechanical issues with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation. Examination of the airplane by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the airplane came to rest upright at the airport perimeter fence. The fuselage and both wings were structurally damaged. The inspector observed the parking brake handle partially extended, and when he pulled the handle, it moved about 1/2-inch.

Contributing factors

  • cause Pilot
  • cause Pilot
  • cause Unintentional use/operation

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 150/03kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.