Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Greenwood-Leflore Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Greenwood, Mississippi 38930
Monday, June 25, 2001 9:20 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Lockheed P-38L-5LD "Lightning" was being ferried from Tullahoma, Tennessee, to its home base in Texas following its participation in an air show. During descent into the Greenwood, Mississippi area for refueling, the left engine backfired, ran roughly, and the cockpit filled with thick smoke. With reduced cockpit visibility, and a need to get the aircraft on the ground as soon as possible, the pilot chose a cotton field for a forced landing. Postcrash examination of the left engine revealed the supercharger sustained an internal compressor wheel failure that shot compressor blade pieces through the supercharger housing and the fuel feed line. High pressure 100 octane fuel spewed inside the left engine nacelle, ignited, and caused the in-flight fire.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the failure and uncontained separation of supercharger impeller blades for undetermined reasons during normal descent, resulting in a punctured fuel line and the subsequent in-flight engine fire and emergency descent and forced landing to a farm field.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/25/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 920 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Greenwood |
| Event State | MISSISSIPPI |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 38930 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Greenwood-Leflore |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | GWO |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 225 |
| Airport Elevation | 162 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 953 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 45 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GWO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 162 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 60 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.16 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11158 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 25 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1556 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 4 2001 12:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Jackson, Ms |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N25Y |
| NTSB Number | MIA01LA171 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Lockheed |
| Aircraft Model | P-38L-5LD |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 5339 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 22000 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 1 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 75 |
| Airframe Hours | 1645 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Yes |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Marvin I. Gardner |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 203 Dasher |
| Aircraft Owner City | Austin |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 78734 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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 | THA |
| Departure City | Tullahoma |
| Departure State | TN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 800 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | GWO |
| Destination City | Greenwood |
| Destination State | MS |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 16 2001 10:57AM |
| User who most recently changed record | PREJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |