Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Southborough, Massachusetts 01772
Sunday, October 15, 2000 10:07 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was in a climb, passing 3,500 feet, when the pilot heard a "bang". The engine lost power, and oil began leaking from the engine compartment. The pilot then made a forced landing on the Massachusetts Turnpike. During the landing flare, the airplane struck highway reflectors, a sign, and an automobile. Examination of the airplane's Lycoming O-360-A4M engine revealed a breach in the casing, in the vicinity of the number 1 piston. In addition, the number 1 piston connecting rod cap was missing, along with one complete rod bolt, and the manufactured head of the other rod bolt. The fracture surfaces were obliterated, and did not provide any clues of fracture event initiation. Type 74502 connecting rods were used in the overhaul of the engine. Since its certification in November 1974, the O-360-A4M engine had always been manufactured utilizing LW-11750 connecting rods. Predecessor O-360 series engines were manufactured using 74502 connecting rods; however, those rods and their immediate successors were superceded by LW-11750 connecting rods in May 1970. The LW-11750 connecting rod had a larger grip area than the 74502, and utilized a longer rod bolt to secure the connecting rod cap to the connecting rod yoke. There was, however, no evidence that the use of the 74502 connecting rod would have resulted in a rod or rod bolt failure. At the time of the accident, the engine's time since overhaul was 50 hours.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A failed connecting rod assembly, with the initiating event undetermined.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/15/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1007 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | SOUTHBOROUGH |
| Event State | MASSACHUSETTS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 01772 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| 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 | 956 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 30 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BED |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 133 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 15 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 68 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 53 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10962 |
| NTSB Notification Source | New England Region Comm Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 15 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 800 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 6 2001 9:00AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4381S |
| NTSB Number | NYC01LA013 |
| 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-28-181 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-28-181 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 8590014 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 7 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 50 |
| Airframe Hours | 1309 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | DAVID H. BEACH |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | |
| Aircraft Owner City | BOSTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | MA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 02115 |
| 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 | BED |
| Departure City | BEDFORD |
| Departure State | MA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 955 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | MVY |
| Destination City | VINEYARD HAVEN |
| Destination State | MA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 18 2001 4:45AM |
| 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 | -- |