Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Altoona Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Altoona, Pennsylvania 16662
Wednesday, August 16, 1995 1:48 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While flying at night, about 10,000 feet msl, the flight reported an engine problem, declared an emergency, and requested vectors to the nearest airport for landing. When queried, the pilot stated, '...we got a fire in the right engine.' While diverting, the pilot was unable to maintain altitude (level flight) until the airplane descended to about 1700 feet. The tops of ridges in the area were about 2500 to 2800 feet. Subsequently, about 15 miles from the alternate airport, the airplane hit trees during darkness at an elevation of about 1720 feet and crashed. Examination of the right engine revealed that the last 8 to 12 inches of the right overboard tube had separated circumferentially from the exhaust system. A metallurgical examination of the exhaust stack revealed evidence of fatigue; there were numerous hot gas corrosion cracks that had originated at the interior surface and had propagated through the wall thickness of the stack. There was evidence that a breach of the right exhaust stack allowed hot, high velocity gases to escape and initiate a fire. The Altoon weather was in part: 8,000' scattered, 3 miles visibility with fog and haze.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
propagation of corrosion cracks in the right engine overboard exhaust stack and fatigue failure of the exhaust stack, which resulted in escape of hot/high velocity gases, in-flight fire, emergency descent, and subsequent collision with trees during an approach for a forced landing. Darkness and mountainous/hilly terrain were related factors.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/16/1995 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 148 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | ALTOONA |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 16662 |
| Event Date Year | 1995 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | ALTOONA |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | AOO |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 12 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 60 |
| Airport Elevation | 1754 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 150 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 225 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | AOO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1754 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 8000 |
| 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) | 3 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| 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) | 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) | 2143 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 16 1995 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2015 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2000 4:31PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2640L |
| NTSB Number | NYC95FA195 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 310R |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 310R |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 310R1677 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 5500 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 15 1995 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 70 |
| Airframe Hours | 3202 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | BASTILLE CORPORATION |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 207 LEWISTON |
| Aircraft Owner City | GROSSE PT FARM |
| Aircraft Owner State | MI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 48236 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | VOYAGER AVIATION CROUP |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 805 BARRINGTON |
| Operator City | GROSSE POINTE |
| Operator State | MI |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 48230 |
| Operator Code | UHEA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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 | Non-scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | N95 |
| Departure City | CARLISLE |
| Departure State | PA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 130 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | DET |
| Destination City | DETROIT |
| Destination State | MI |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach |
| 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 | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |