Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Greeley, Colorado 80631
Saturday, May 10, 1997 13:57 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot was test flying his experimental airplane in the local area when the engine lost partial power then seized. The airplane landed hard, shearing off the right main landing gear and buckling the fuselage. Post accident disassembly of the engine revealed evidence of high heat distress and a lack of lubrication. The builder said he had adjusted the fuel-oil metering system on previous occasions because the engine was difficult to start and operated erratically. Operating temperatures were also high. The engine was further examined by an independent repair facility. They found that the engine did not have a harmonic balancer, which allowed the crankshaft bearings on the magneto end to move within the crankcase. Extreme internal heat build up and oil starvation damaged the crankshaft bearings, rotary valve, disk, and gear, and caused the connecting rod to eventually fail.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The engine manufacturer's inadequate quality control by failing to install the harmonic balancer, causing the engine to fail catastrophically. A factor was the lack of suitable terrain on which to make a forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/10/1997 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1357 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | GREELEY |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 80631 |
| Event Date Year | 1997 |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1355 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 360 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GXY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4658 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| 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) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 6761 |
| 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) | 495 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 10 1997 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1545 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 12:16PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N950AW |
| NTSB Number | FTW97LA189 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Townsend |
| Aircraft Model | KITFOX |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | KITFOX |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 950 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1050 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 11 1997 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 5 |
| Airframe Hours | 5 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | GEORGE TOWNSEND & WAYNE WHITE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2706 50TH AVE. |
| Aircraft Owner City | GREELEY |
| Aircraft Owner State | CO |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 80632 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2102 27TH AVE. |
| Operator City | GREELEY |
| Operator State | CO |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 80631 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | GXY |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1300 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| 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 | 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 | -- |