Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Des Moines International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Des Moines, Iowa 50321
Saturday, January 21, 1995 15:37 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE PRIVATE PILOT DECLARED AN EMERGENCY WHILE AT 16,000 FEET IN VFR CONDITIONS OVERHEAD THE 9,000 FOOT RUNWAY. DURING THE DESCENT HE STATED HIS ENGINE RAN ROUGH, THEN SMOOTHED OUT. APPROXIMATELY 4,000 FT AGL HE STATED HE 'HAD A MAJOR PROBLEM...COMING DOWN.' WITNESSES DESCRIBED THE AIRPLANE IN A STEEP DESCENT, THEN ENTERING A SPIN AT APPROXIMATELY 1,000 FT AGL. THE AIRPLANE IMPACTED 3/4 MILE SHORT OF THE RUNWAY. TESTING REVEALED THE CRANKSHAFT FAILED IN 2 PLACES, BOTH WITH AREAS OF FATIGUE CRACKING. THE FATIGUE ORIGIN WAS SUBSURFACE, THE SHAFT WAS MACHINED, NOT FORGED, AND HAD AN ESTIMATED 150 TO 200 HOURS IN OPERATION. NO OTHER DISCREPANCIES WERE FOUND WITH THE AIRPLANE.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control during the emergency descent, resulting in a stall/spin. Factors were material defects in the material used to manufacture the crankshaft, resulting in the crankshaft fracturing after approximately 200 hours in service.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/21/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1537 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | DES MOINES |
| Event State | IOWA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 50321 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | DES MOINES INTERNATIONAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | DSM |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 160 |
| Airport Elevation | 957 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1534 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DSM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 957 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1700 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 16 |
| 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 | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 2 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 337 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 21 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1600 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 3:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4QV |
| NTSB Number | CHI95FA071 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | Ground |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | BACON |
| Aircraft Model | QUESTAIR-VENTURE |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | QUESTAIR-V |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 43 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CONDOMINIUM INSC SPEC OF AMER |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3930 VENTURA DR, STE 450 |
| Aircraft Owner City | ARLINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | IL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 60004 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | QUESTAIR, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | PWK |
| Departure City | PALWAUKEE |
| Departure State | IL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CYS |
| Destination City | CHEYENNE |
| Destination State | WY |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - uncontrolled |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:30AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 31R |
| Runway Length | 9000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |