Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Fontana, California 92335
Saturday, September 27, 2003 16:55 PDT

The engine lost power during cruise and the airplane entered into a spin to ground impact in a nose down attitude. Multiple witnesses heard the engine sputter and lose power, and then lost sight of the airplane as it crested a mountain. Other witnesses located nearby reported that they saw the airplane enter a spin while turning sharply and then impact the ground in a nose down attitude. A post impact fire consumed the airplane. The accident pilot, who was also the airplane owner, purchased the airplane about a year prior to the accident. He removed the engine and took it to a repair facility for inspection after experiencing overheating problems. The repair facility produced documents showing that they performed an inspection, disassembly, and repair of the engine in March 2002. A review of the airframe and engine logbooks revealed that the engine recorded as installed in the airplane was not what investigators found installed on the airplane. By serial number, the engine found on the airplane was the one that the repair facility had worked on. Beyond the work performed by the repair facility, the history of the engine is unknown. During the post accident engine examination, investigators noted signatures consistent with oil starvation. The connecting rods were rust colored and the crankshaft journals were thermally damaged and blue in color, with a bronze/copper color transfer. The forward main bearing halves were also coated with a bronze/copper coloration, and were not aligned with their respective oil galley passageways. Since the engine repair in March 2002, the engine was estimated to have accrued 54.33 hours of total time. According to the Federal Aviation Regulations Title 14 CFR 43.1, and 91.409, the maintenance and inspection requirements of these regulations do not apply to aircraft certificated in the experimental category.

a loss of engine power due to oil starvation that was the result of misaligned main bearing halves that obstructed the oil galley passages. Since the history of the engine could not be reconstructed, the person or entity responsible for the bearing misalignment could not be determined. Also causal was the pilot's failure to maintain an adequate airspeed while maneuvering for a forced landing that resulted in a stall/spin.