Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
New Orleans Intl. Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Laplace, Louisiana 70068
Thursday, February 11, 1988 19:42 CST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
PLT WAS IN LEVEL CRZ FLT AT NIGHT WHEN HE OBSERVED SPARKS AND FLAME COMING FROM THE ENG COWLING. SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE ENG BEGAN RUNNING ROUGH AND THEN SEIZED. AFTER DECLARING AN EMERGENCY AND BEING CLEARED STRAIGHT IN TO A RUNWAY ABOUT 28 MILES AWAY, THE PLT DECIDED THAT HE COULD NOT MAKE THE RWY AND EXECUTED AN EMERG LNDG ON AN UNLIGHTED STRETCH OF INTERSTATE HWY. DRNG THE LNDG ROLL, THE RT WING STRUCK A GUARD RAIL AND THE ACFT VEERED RT, COLLAPSING THE MLG. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE NO. 3 CYL HAD SEPARATED INTO 2 PIECES AS A RESULT OF A FATIGUE CRACK THAT HAD INITIATED AT THE INNER DIAMETER OF THE CYL. THE CAUSE OF THE FATIGUE INITIATION COULD NOT BE DETERMINED. EVIDENCE INDICATED THAT THE CYL FATIGUE CRACK HAD BEEN THERE FOR SOME TIME, MORE THAN THE 26 HRS THAT HAD ELAPSED SINCE THE LAST 100 HR INSP.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/11/1988 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1942 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Standard Time |
| Event City | LAPLACE |
| Event State | LOUISIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 70068 |
| Event Date Year | 1988 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | NEW ORLEANS INTL. |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | MSY |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 0 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1950 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 120 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MSY |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 13 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 3 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 0 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 340 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 21 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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) | 1410 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 14 1988 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1015 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 37526 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 11:33AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4882S |
| NTSB Number | FTW88FA064 |
| 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 | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-32-260 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | PA-32-260 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32-7100006 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3400 |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 24 1987 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 26 |
| Airframe Hours | 2576 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WATHEN, FRANK J. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 4328 BELCLAIRE |
| Aircraft Owner City | DALLAS |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 75205 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | FRANK J. WATHEN |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 4328 BELCLAIRE |
| Operator City | DALLAS |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 75205 |
| 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 | ADS |
| Departure City | ADDISON |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1700 |
| Departure Time Zone | CST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | MSY |
| Destination City | NEW ORLEANS |
| Destination State | LA |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | 0 |
| Runway Width | 0 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |