Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Charleston, South Carolina 29401
Tuesady, January 26, 1999 16:00 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that about 7 minutes after takeoff the airplane's engine lost oil pressure and started to lose oil, followed by a loss of engine power. The airplane started a descent that the pilot could not arrest, and continued to descend at a rate of about 100-200 feet per minute. The pilot then heard, 'a loud bang...a shudder occurred in the engine compartment, and the engine lost power.' The pilot banked the airplane, and headed towards a clearing. The engine compartment appeared to be on fire, and smoke began to enter the cockpit. He elected to make a forced landing in a field. The engine was examined at the crash site, and a hole was noted in the case at the No. 4 cylinder. Oil was observed on the No. 4 cylinder wall, the oil dip stick did not show any oil, and there was evidence that oil had leaked out of the engine. The engine was examined on February 12, 1999, and the examination revealed that oil had leaked at the engine oil filter adapter. In addition, there were more threads showing on one stud than on the other. A torque wrench was used to check torque on the nuts. It was noted that one nut rotated 1 1/2 rotations before reaching the specified torque. The other nut rotated 1 rotation before reaching torque. The oil filter adapter was removed for further examination, and revealed that the gasket was found with a gap at the corner with a opening of about 1/16 of an inch. It was concluded, that the leak caused the engine to exhaust the oil supply, causing the No. 4 cylinder connecting rod to fail, which resulted in a total loss of engine power.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the total loss of engine power caused by an oil leak at the oil filter adapter, resulting in a broken connecting rod, a subsequent forced landing and impact with rough terrain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/26/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1600 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | CHARLESTON |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29401 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 40 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1456 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 95 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CHS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 42 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 18 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 9 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 70 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 142 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 26 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1720 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 21 2001 4:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4976M |
| NTSB Number | MIA99LA069 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Beech |
| Aircraft Model | A36 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | A36 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | E-1271 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 6 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 15 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 20 |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DAVID AMES |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 90 CARRIAGE HOUSE RD. |
| Aircraft Owner City | BARNARDSVILLE |
| Aircraft Owner State | NJ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 07924 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | CHS |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1545 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | HXD |
| Destination City | HILTON HEAD |
| Destination State | SC |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 21 2001 4:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |