Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Troy, Alabama 36079
Tuesady, October 14, 2003 15:40 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated he was at 3,000 feet in cruise flight, when he felt an instantaneous onset of a severe vibration. He reduced power and looked at the instrument panel. He did not observe an illumination of the engine chip detector light. He increased power to see what manifold pressure that he could maintain. The airplane would not maintain cruise flight. He observed a field to his front and initiated a forced landing to the field. He completed an engine shut down and started slipping the airplane to the harvested cornfield. The airplane touched down, rolled about 200 feet, and collided with a berm. Examination of the airplane revealed the propeller would continue to turn without the engine running. The propeller assembly was disassembled and the propeller shaft was fractured. Disassembly of the engine revealed all 9 connecting rods were fractured. The propeller shaft and connecting rods were examined by the NTSB Materials Laboratory. Post separation damage of the connecting rods had totally obliterated the fracture surfaces of the connecting rods making the determination of the failure modes impossible.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power due to a fractured connecting rod for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/14/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1540 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Troy |
| Event State | ALABAMA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 36079 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 315150N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0880050W |
| 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 | 8 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 270 |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1453 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TOI |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 397 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4300 |
| 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) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.78 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 2044 |
| 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) | 16665 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Communications Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Oct 14 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1900 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 3 2004 9:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Birmingham FSDO-09 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N55YA |
| NTSB Number | ATL04LA029 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Yakovlev |
| Aircraft Model | YAK55M |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 930804 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3880 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 4 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 28 |
| Airframe Hours | 780 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Jerry Brackett |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 722 Walker Parke Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Richmond |
| Aircraft Owner State | KY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 40475 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Peter K. Herzig |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 15081 Buena Vista Avenue |
| Operator City | White Rock |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | CA |
| Operator Zip code | V4B1Y1 |
| 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 | TLH |
| Departure City | Tallahassee |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1540 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | MGM |
| Destination City | Montgomery |
| Destination State | AL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - emergency |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 6 2004 2:31PM |
| User who most recently changed record | POWP |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |