Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Camden County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Berlin, New Jersey 08009
Sunday, October 27, 1996 13:50 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was on a demonstration flight with a prospective buyer in the left front seat & the co-owners in the right front & a rear seat. A witness said the airplane was above the airport when a puff of white smoke came from the exhaust, & the engine lost power. The gear was extended, & the pilot(s) entered a left turn to circle & descend for a forced landing at the airport. The left seat pilot said the right seat pilot abandoned the controls, saying 'You have it.' He also said that before entering an uncontrolled descent, the right seat pilot yelled, 'We're not going to make it,' then he grabbed the controls, yanked back, and the airplane half snap rolled & dove into trees. However, a ground witness said the airplane descended until it impacted a tree, while still in a left spiral. Exam of the engine revealed 3 broken connecting rods & a shattered #5 piston. The piston had failed in compression & showed polished edges & distress associated with hydraulic lock. Operating instructions required that spark plugs & drain plugs be removed from the #4, #5, & #6 cylinders before turning the propeller to prevent hydraulic lock (if parked more than 3 days). A witness said the owners started the radial engine every couple of weeks without removing anything from the engine. A factory trained engine technician said there was evidence '...the engine was started without the operator having first checked for the presence of oil in the lower cylinders as is described in the aircraft operating instructions.'
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
an inadequate preflight by unknown person(s), sometime before the flight, by failing to avoid a hydraulic lock (from oil seepage) in the #5 cylinder, which resulted in a bent connecting rod, subsequent failure of the #5 piston, and loss of engine power. Also causal was: the flight crew's failure to maintain adequate control of the aircraft and/or clearance from a tree, while maneuvering for an emergency landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/27/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1350 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | BERLIN |
| Event State | NEW JERSEY |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 08009 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | CAMDEN COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 19N |
| 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 | 60 |
| Airport Elevation | 159 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1345 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KPN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 121 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 18 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| 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) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1712 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 27 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1430 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 10:25AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9418 |
| NTSB Number | NYC97FA011 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Yakovlev |
| Aircraft Model | YAK-18T |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | YAK-18T |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 09-33 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3636 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 13 1995 12:00AM |
| 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 | RAYMOND & EDWARD CELLA |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2316 BAYNARD BLVD |
| Aircraft Owner City | WILMINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19802 |
| 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) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | 19N |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| 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 | 23 |
| Runway Length | 3100 |
| Runway Width | 45 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |