Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Gainesville Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Gainesville, Texas 76240
Sunday, November 26, 2000 23:13 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While in cruise on a night cross-country flight, the airplane's engine lost power. The pilot attempted a forced landing to a nearby airport, however, the airplane touched down in a field short of the runway. The engine had accumulated 265.5 hours since factory remanufacture. During examination of the engine, the number 3 connecting rod was found separated from the crankshaft. The number 4 piston exhibited a hole burned through the crown structure of the piston. The hole was located along a crack that extended across the top of the piston, in-line with the piston pin. Metallurgical examination determined that fatigue cracking of the piston initiated from a stamp mark "4" on the top surface of the piston. The stamp mark, which was made by the manufacturer during engine buildup, acted as a stress raiser and was responsible for initiation of the crack. Once the crack extended to the interior surface of the piston, hot combustion gasses created the burn through hole and escaped into the crankcase, leading to engine failure. The accident airplane had experienced a previous in-flight engine failure in which an engine teardown revealed a piston with a burned through hole in the crown structure of the piston. This engine had accumulated 640 hours since factory remanufacture; however, this piston did not have any stamp marks on its top surface. The Turbine Inlet Temperature (TIT) gauge, thermocouple, and probes were removed from the accident airplane, and the thermocouple leads were found spliced in two locations. According to the aircraft's maintenance manual, faulty thermocouple leads should be replaced. They should never be spliced, as this will change the resistance of the leads, which is critical for the proper operation of the TIT gauge. The pilot stated that he followed the leaning procedure in the airplane's operating handbook and leaned the engine by referencing the TIT gauge.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the loss of engine power due to improper splicing of the TIT thermocouple leads by unknown persons, which led to over temperature operation of the engine due to inaccurate TIT gauge readings. Contributing factors were the manufacturer's stamp on the top of the piston, which created a stress riser leading to fatigue cracking of the piston, and the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 11/26/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 2313 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | GAINESVILLE |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 76240 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| Event Date Month | 11 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | GAINESVILLE MUNICIPAL |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | GLE |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 350 |
| Airport Elevation | 839 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Partial - limited by pilot |
| 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 | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 6 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 45 |
| 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 | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11235 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Nov 27 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 726 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2002 7:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9298Y |
| NTSB Number | FTW01LA026 |
| 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-46-310P |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-46-310P |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 86-8608034 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4300 |
| 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 | Jan 3 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | D AND L FLYERS INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 13355 NOEL RD. STE. 1715 |
| Aircraft Owner City | DALLAS |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75240 |
| 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 | PWA |
| Departure City | OKLAHOMA CITY |
| Departure State | OK |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2220 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ADS |
| Destination City | ADDISON |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 4 2001 2:49PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 35 |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 100 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |