Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Trinity Center Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Trinity Center, California 96091
Wednesday, June 1, 1994 6:40 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot said that he heard a grinding noise in the engine followed by a prop overspeed. Then the engine suddenly lost all power. ARTCC provided radar vectors to nearest airport and the pilot set up for a dead stick approach; however, he was unable to make the runway. The aircraft touched down gear up in a ditch, bounced out and onto parking lot, then crashed into a parked aircraft. Disassembly of the engine revealed fretting on the parting surfaces of the number 1 main bearing saddle. The crankshaft was found fatigue fractured across the number 1 crankpin at the interface with the number 2 long cheek. One rod end cap nut was found without a cotter pin installed. The second rod end cap nut was found with a shorter than normal cotter pin installed. The number 1 connecting rod bearing was found partially swaged out of the rod, with fretting observed on the bearing surfaces. The side faces of connecting rod number 1 were scored. The engine records revealed that cylinders number 1 and 4 were replaced on May 9, 1994, 29 hours prior to the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the fatigue fracture of the crankshaft due to improper maintenance installation of the number 1 cylinder and the inadequate torquing of the case through bolts at that location.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/1/1994 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 640 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | TRINITY CENTER |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96091 |
| Event Date Year | 1994 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | TRINITY CENTER |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | O86 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 2390 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Dawn |
| 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) | 30 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 20 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 1 1994 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 710 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 6 2000 11:29AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N36025 |
| NTSB Number | LAX94LA233 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28R-201T |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28R-201 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28R-7803308 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2900 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 6 1994 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 68 |
| Airframe Hours | 4362 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MARVIN R. GRIMMETT |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2665 E. SPRING STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | LONG BEACH |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 90806 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | RAINBOW AIR |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 2565 E. SPRING STREET |
| Operator City | LONG BEACH |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 90806 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MFR |
| Departure City | MEDFORD |
| Departure State | OR |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 550 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | LGB |
| Destination City | LONG BEACH |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 32 |
| Runway Length | 3200 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |