Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Great Bend, Kansas 67530
Monday, May 20, 1996 16:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that during the third flight of the day, he noticed a 5 to 6 inch drop in manifold pressure on the left engine. He noticed a brownish substance oozing out of the access panels and along the forward rivet line of the left wing. He secured the left engine. Prior to making an emergency landing at Great Bend, Kansas, 12 miles away, he noticed the right tank fuel gauge was indicating a rapid loss of fuel. Examination of the aircraft revealed that the left engine's inboard exhaust header had broken completely where it was covered by a heat shield and behind a canted bulkhead. Exhaust gases caused extensive heat damage to the engine support structure and firewall, and ruptured the right fuel tank crossfeed fuel line behind the left engine firewall. A 100=hour maintenance inspection had been conducted just 17 flight-hours prior to the accident. AD 75-23-08 R5 had been complied with. The AD requires a visual inspection of the exhaust system, but not a detailed inspection requiring disassembly of the system. As designed, it was not possible to visually inspect the exhaust system without disassembly.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the failure of the exhaust header. Additional factors include the visual restrictions which prevented a detailed examination of the exhaust system, and the inadequate inspection procedures required in AD 75-23-08 R5.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/20/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1630 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | GREAT BEND |
| Event State | KANSAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 67530 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| 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 | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| 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 | 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) | -1 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 110 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 18 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 26 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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) | 1123 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 24 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1030 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 9:59AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N701CJ |
| NTSB Number | CHI96FA171 |
| 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 | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 401 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 401 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 401A-0022 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 6300 |
| 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 | 7 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 3 1996 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 17 |
| Airframe Hours | 5449 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MAC AIR |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P. O. BOX 189 |
| Aircraft Owner City | MCPHERSON |
| Aircraft Owner State | KS |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 67460 |
| 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 | 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 | -- |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Airport Code | GCK |
| Departure City | GARDEN CITY |
| Departure State | KS |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1430 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | MPR |
| Destination City | MCPHERSON |
| Destination State | KS |
| 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 | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |