Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tanana, Alaska 99777
Thursday, June 1, 2000 13:30 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A passenger aboard a twin-engine, scheduled commuter airplane reported to the pilot that there was black smoke, fire, and oil coming from the left engine. The pilot shut down the left engine, made a 180-degree turn to return the departure airport, and alerted emergency fire crews to standby for his return. On arrival, fire department personnel extinguished the fire. The airplane was equipped with two TEXTRON Lycoming TIO-540-J2BD engines. A postincident inspection revealed the oil filter adapter plate gasket material displayed obvious signs of degradation and deformation. A subsequent investigation revealed that the manufacturer that supplied TEXTRON Lycoming with the oil filter adapter plate gaskets, recently changed material suppliers. The new gasket material did not meet the existing specifications, and deteriorated when in contact with hot engine oil. A subsequent oil leak sprayed engine oil within the engine cowling, near the rear of the engine, adjacent to the engine turbocharger.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An in-flight oil leak due to the deterioration of oil filter adapter plate gasket material, and the supplier's distribution of inadequate material. A factor associated with the accident was the engine manufacturer's inadequate quality control.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 6/1/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | TANANA |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99777 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| 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 | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 7000 |
| 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) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 0 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 5 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 5019 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Frontier Flying Service |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 1 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1430 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 10 2001 3:45PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3536B |
| NTSB Number | ANC00IA063 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | Company VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-31-350 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-31-350 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 75952205 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 7368 |
| 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 | 10 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 31 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 7 |
| Airframe Hours | 19019 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FRONTIER FLYING SERVICE, INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3820 UNIVERSITY AVE, SOUTH |
| Aircraft Owner City | FAIRBANKS |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99709 |
| 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 | FFSA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| 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 | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | TAL |
| Departure City | TANANA |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1300 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | FAI |
| Destination City | FAIRBANKS |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 3 2001 4:08AM |
| 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 | -- |