Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Kennewick, Washington 99336
Friday, June 30, 2000 11:44 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
About 30 minutes after takeoff, while cruising at 6,500 feet, the engine began to lose RPM and subsequently stopped. The pilot was able to restart the engine, but oil then started coming from under the cowling. The pilot shut the engine down and performed a forced landing on a road. As the windshield was covered with oil, the pilot's forward visibility was impaired during the forced landing. During the landing roll, the aircraft's left wing struck a road sign that the pilot could not see, causing the aircraft to leave the road. The aircraft came to rest in a ditch beside the road. A post-accident examination of the aircraft's engine revealed damage to the number 1 piston, with the wrist pin brass plug missing. A hole in the top of the engine crankcase was also observed at this location, which the examination report stated was 'probably caused by [the] brass plug being pushed out by [the] crank shaft lobe.' The engine, a Lycoming O-320-E2A, had 1,649 hours since overhaul at the time of the accident and had received an annual signoff 8 months and 27 flight hours before the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A failure in the engine's number 1 piston, resulting in a total loss of engine power. Factors included the aircraft windshield being covered with oil (restricting forward visibility), a road sign, and a ditch beside the road on which the forced landing was performed.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/30/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1144 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | KENNEWICK |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99336 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| 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 | 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) | 30 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 31 |
| 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 | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 996 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 30 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1235 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 2 2001 2:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N6887W |
| NTSB Number | SEA00LA119 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| 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 | 28-21043 |
| 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 | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 17 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 27 |
| Airframe Hours | 4147 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | STEPHEN L. WALTERS |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2457 SMOKE TREE LN. |
| Aircraft Owner City | WALLA WALLA |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99362 |
| 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 | ALW |
| Departure City | WALLA WALLA |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1118 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 4S2 |
| Destination City | HOOD RIVER |
| Destination State | OR |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 2 2001 4:09AM |
| 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 | -- |