Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Frank Sikes Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Luvurne, Alabama 36049
Thursday, May 7, 1998 19:20 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was in cruise flight when the pilot reported to air traffic control (ATC) that he had oil on the wind screen, and was losing oil pressure. Smoke starting filling the cockpit, and he declared an emergency with ATC. The pilot said he saw oil coming from the front of the nose cowling which hit the windshield. He asked ATC for vectors to the nearest airport, 4 miles ahead. The pilot said, because of the oil on the windshield, '...I couldn't see anything, so I slipped the airplane so I could see out the left window...when I did the aircraft started to loss altitude...the oil from the left window started to flow down the left side of the airplane...now I can't see out the front...or left side window.' He attempted to land on a road, but he saw power lines across the road. He turned left base for the road, the stall warning came on, he pulled back on the yoke to keep from hitting the power lines, and missed the turn for the final approach for the road. He then elected to land in a small field. At an altitude of about 60 feet, he turned the engine off, lowered the nose real quick, and headed for the field. The field was too short to land in from his altitude, of around 10 to 20 feet off the ground. He then pulled back on the yoke to kill the airspeed, and let the airplane fall into the field. The airplane hit the ground on all three landing gears at one time, and bounced about 20 to 30 feet. The pilot stated that he rebuilt the airplane's engine and reinstalled it on the airplane in May 1998, about 4 flight hours before the accident. After he had reinstalled the engine, he ran the engine, and found that the oil pressure 'was too high.' He readjusted the oil pressure, and then flew the airplane for 10 minutes, and he said 'everything looked good.' On the day of the accident he flew to Selma, Alabama, and had no problems during the flight. After the accident, an examination of the engine and airframe revealed that the forward nose seal, on the engine had come loose, and was the source of the oil leak. The pilot said that the seal came loose due to the 'high oil pressure.' The pilot told the FAA that after he made the first engine run, and had readjusted the oil pressure, he should have rechecked the seals, and he did not.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of engine power due to a leaking engine oil seal, resulting in a forced landing, and subsequent impact with the ground. A factor in this accident was improper maintenance and checks after rebuilding and reinstalling the airplane's engine.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/7/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1920 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | LUVURNE |
| Event State | ALABAMA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 36049 |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | FRANK SIKES |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 04A |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 4 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 270 |
| Airport Elevation | 300 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1855 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TOY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 300 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 10 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Dusk |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 25000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 200 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| 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 | 3 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 352 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 7 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2000 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 16 2001 11:57AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N8218N |
| NTSB Number | MIA98LA159 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-140 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28-140 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-25548 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2150 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 23 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4 |
| Airframe Hours | 3939 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | VERNON HEIN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1833 FAIRFIELD DR. |
| Aircraft Owner City | DOTHAN |
| Aircraft Owner State | AL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 36303 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | SEM |
| Departure City | SELMA |
| Departure State | AL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1800 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 0J6 |
| Destination City | HEADLAND |
| Destination State | AL |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 20 2001 6:29PM |
| 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 | -- |