Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Clover Field Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Houston, Texas 77059
Monday, January 3, 2000 12:25 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was climbing through 3,500 feet after departure when the pilot heard a sequence of loud bangs. The pilot stated that the airplane started to vibrate, therefore, he elected to pull the throttle to idle and returned to the departure airport. The pilot stated that he could not make it to the active runway and elected to land on a grass strip located on the airport. The pilot attempted to slow the airplane before impacting a ditch. The airplane nosed over at 40 knots, coming to rest inverted. Examination of the engine revealed that the #4 cylinder head separated from its cylinder barrel as a result of fatigue cracking originating in the cylinder head threads. The engine was overhauled 111.5 hours prior to the accident, at which time, 6 channel chromed overhauled cylinders were installed. It could not be determined how many hours the cylinders had accumulated or how many times they had been overhauled. There is no requirement to track cylinder hours or overhaul occurrences.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the loss of engine power during climb as a result of fatigue cracking of the #4 cylinder head and its subsequent separation from its barrel.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/3/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1225 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | HOUSTON |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 77059 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | CLOVER FIELD |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | T02 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 44 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1216 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LVJ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 44 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 4700 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3200 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 20 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1051 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 3 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1216 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 2 2001 3:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N999SW |
| NTSB Number | FTW00LA058 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | A185F |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | A185F |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18503720 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3350 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 15 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 51 |
| Airframe Hours | 2094 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MARK J. ALLEN |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 16202 BLUE MESA RIDGE DRIVE |
| Aircraft Owner City | FRIENDSWOOD |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 77546 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | LVJ |
| Departure City | |
| Departure State | |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1215 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | GGG |
| Destination City | LONGVIEW |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 2 2001 4:08AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 22 |
| Runway Length | 2400 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |