Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
March Air Reserve Base Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Riverside, California 92504
Thursday, January 1, 2004 9:20 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Following a catastrophic engine failure in cruise, the airplane collided with multiple ground obstacles during a forced landing in a field. The pilot reported that while in cruise flight he first noticed a "burning smell," which was followed a short time later by a low oil pressure indication. The pilot then felt a vibration, followed by a brief engine overspeed to 3,000 rpm, and then the engine lost all power. He performed a forced landing in a field and collided with multiple ground obstacles. Post accident examination of the engine at the accident site revealed that the No. 6 connecting rod had penetrated the engine crank case. An excess of engine oil was found on the bottom of the airplane. Further examination revealed an oil filter gasket, Lycoming part number LW-13388, was extruded at the base of the filter assembly and had allowed virtually all engine oil to escape. A Lycoming Mandatory Service Bulletin MSB-543, and an emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2000-18-53, that was later superceded by AD 2002-12-17, was applicable to this potential problem, and required repetitive inspections and gasket replacement or replacement of the gasket adapter plate with a different part number. The investigation could find no evidence of compliance with either AD.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
engine oil exhaustion due to the extrusion of an oil filter converter plate gasket and the failure of the aircraft owner to comply with a mandatory Service Bulletin and a Federal Aviation Administration emergency Airworthiness Directive.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/1/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 920 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Riverside |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 92504 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 335248N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1171530W |
| Event Location Airport | March Air Reserve Base |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | RIV |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 45 |
| Airport Elevation | 1535 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 856 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 45 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KRIV |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1535 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 20000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 50 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 6 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 1 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.2 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 485 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17754 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 1 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 931 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 8 2005 12:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-RAL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N589Q |
| NTSB Number | LAX04LA084 |
| 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 | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-32R-300 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32R-7780492 |
| 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 | May 9 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 38 |
| Airframe Hours | 4924 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Airtravel Enterprises Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | On File |
| Aircraft Owner City | La Habra |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 91761 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Michael Woodin |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Carlsbad |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 92008 |
| 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 | OKB |
| Departure City | Oceanside |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 850 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | L35 |
| Destination City | BIG BEAR |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 8 2005 6:14PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| 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 | -- |