Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ferron, Utah 84523
Sunday, February 24, 2002 13:11 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Approximately 30 minutes into the flight, the engine began to "miss, backfire heavily and sputter." The number 1 cylinder temperature "shot off the gauge" with a red light warning light illuminated. The engine lost power and the airplane began to descend. The pilot made a forced landing on a highway. During the landing roll, the airplane struck a truck parked on the shoulder, shearing off its left wing. The airplane then overturned and skidded 300 feet to a halt. Engine disassembly revealed the magneto idler gear that drives the dual magneto was missing 8 teeth. Three of the teeth were displaced from the gear and exhibited signatures consistent with mechanical overload, while the remaining 5 had been ground off. The respective idler gear shaft bore(s) at the back of the crankcase and at the accessory housing were missing approximately 1/3 of their circumferential material. The fracture surface(s) exhibited signatures consistent with overload. The overload forces appeared to have been applied inboard, evidenced by the symmetrical displacement of the bore material at each end of the subject idler gear shaft.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a loss of engine power due to the ingestion of foreign object(s) into the meshing of the gears, causing a malfunction of the magneto idler gear and failure of maintenance personnel to detect the signs of imminent failure during a mandatory oil filter examination to be performed at the time of an oil change, annual inspection, or engine overhaul. Contributing factors were unsuitable terrain for the forced landing, high crosswind weather conditions, and a parked vehicle in the landing area.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/24/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1311 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Ferron |
| Event State | UTAH |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 84523 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| 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 | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1310 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 20 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PUC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5953 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 36 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Unknown |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 7 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.02 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 6370 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 4 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 12595 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA COMM CTR |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 24 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1327 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 16 2003 4:27PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Salt Lake City, Utah |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N47465 |
| NTSB Number | DEN02LA028 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-32R-300 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32R-7880008 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3600 |
| 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 | Oct 15 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 25 |
| Airframe Hours | 3850 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | David R. Powers, Trustee |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 40874 Baccarat Rd. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Temecula |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 92591 |
| 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 | U69 |
| Departure City | Duchesne |
| Departure State | UT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1245 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | CDC |
| Destination City | Cedar City |
| Destination State | UT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | Yes |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 6 2002 9:58AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |