Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bedford, Massachusetts 01730
Saturday, January 24, 2004 22:15 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While descending through 5,500 feet on a moonless night, thick black smoke filled the cabin. The two pilots' initial assessment was that the smoke may have been the result of an electrical fire, so the pilot in command shut off the master switch and vented the cabin. The second pilot grabbed his flashlight and in checking the engine gauges, found there was no oil pressure. The pilots felt they were about to lose engine power, so the second pilot turned on the master switch to notify approach control, and requested vectors to a nearby airport. Approximately 1 minute later, about 4,500 feet, the engine began to vibrate, and lost power. The vibration intensified, and the engine began to shake violently. The pilot in command shut down the engine so it wouldn't break the engine mounts. The second pilot flew the airplane at best glide airspeed, and about 5-6 miles north of the airport, both pilots realized that they were not going to be able to reach it. They looked for a place to land, and found an area that did not appear to have people or homes in it. Approaching the ground, the pilots saw trees in the landing light, and the second pilot maneuvered the airplane to avoid any direct tree hits. Just before ground impact, the pilot in command turned off the master switch. After hitting several trees, the airplane came to a stop, and became engulfed in flames. Because the doors wouldn’t open, the pilots climbed out an opening where the windshield had been. A post-accident engine examination revealed that the #2 piston connecting rod cap had separated, and that there was a hole in the side of the engine case. The number 1, 3, and 4 cylinders were covered with black residue, and the number 2 cylinder was coated with white residue. The engine was last overhauled in September 1990, about 700 operating hours earlier. A service instruction recommended that an engine be overhauled in the 12th year after the previous overhaul, if it had not accumulated the recommended hourly time between overhauls (1,800 hours for that model engine) by that time.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the #2 piston connecting rod cap, which resulted in a hole in the engine crankcase and a loss of engine power. A factor was dark night lighting condition.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/24/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 2215 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Bedford |
| Event State | MASSACHUSETTS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 01730 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 423105N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0711757W |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2156 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 10 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | BED |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 133 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 4 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | -14 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -24 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 11 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 20 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.93 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16733 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 24 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2300 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 7 2004 11:17AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Boston FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1381J |
| NTSB Number | IAD04LA008 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Rockwell |
| Aircraft Model | 112A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 381 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2650 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 12 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | 114 Interactive Group |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 87 Perimeter Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Nashua |
| Aircraft Owner State | NH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 03063 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | GPW Aeroservices |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 83 Perimeter Road |
| Operator City | Nashua |
| Operator State | NH |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 03063 |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | HYA |
| Departure City | Hyannis |
| Departure State | MA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 940 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ASH |
| Destination City | Nashua |
| Destination State | NH |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 15 2004 2:06PM |
| User who most recently changed record | PEAR |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |