Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Valley Springs, California 95252
Friday, May 28, 1999 16:23 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane had a catastrophic engine failure while the pilot was in cruise flight at 4,500 feet. The pilot declared an emergency and began to perform the emergency checklist. The pilot located a flat field and struck a barbed wire fence during the landing roll, which damaged the wings and collapsed the nose gear. The engine was sent back to the Textron Lycoming factory for materials examination. The No. 6 connecting rod initially fractured through the cap with the fracture most likely initiating from an area of galling on the inner diameter of the cap. The fracture was propagated by a fatigue mechanism until it failed with catastrophic overload. Following the metallurgical examination on the No. 6 connecting rod and associated components, additional disassembly of the engine was accomplished that did not conform to investigative protocols. No measurements were taken of the case through bolt torque or the remaining rod end cap bolt torque. No determination was made whether the bearing inserts were of the correct size or assembled properly in engine build-up. Review of the engine maintenance records disclosed that it was remanufactured by the Lycoming factory in 1991, and had operated 869 hours since rebuild and installation in the airframe. No removal and replacement of cylinders was noted in the records.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The fatigue failure and separation of the No. 6 connecting rod end cap, which led to a catastrophic failure of the engine. The fatigue crack initiation was due to galling on the rod end cap, which was most likely caused by an undetermined factory manufacturing process error during the engine rebuild.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/28/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1623 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | VALLEY SPRINGS |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95252 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1556 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SCK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 30 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 17 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1676 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | May 28 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1710 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 4 2001 7:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N38908 |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA201 |
| 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-32R-300 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-32R-300 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32R-7780487 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 16 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 75 |
| Airframe Hours | 2857 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | ERIC C. DISBROW |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3640 FAIRWAY DRIVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | CAMERON PARK |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95682 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MER |
| Departure City | ATWATER |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1600 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 061 |
| Destination City | CAMERON PARK |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 4 2001 7:08AM |
| 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 | -- |