Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
San Luis County Regional Airpo Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Luis Obispo, California 93401
Sunday, March 21, 2004 12:43 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane experienced a loss of engine power and impacted a ditch during the pilot's forced landing in a field. While approaching the proximity of the destination airport, the pilot observed the engine gauges indicating rising oil temperature. About 5 miles from the airport, the engine emitted a loud noise and he declared an emergency due to an engine failure. Realizing that he would be unable to make it to the runway, the pilot executed a forced landing in a field; during the landing roll, the airplane impacted a ditch and tumbled. Post-accident external visual examination by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed that the engine sustained a catastrophic failure, with a hole knocked in the upper case spine above the rear cylinders. Looking through the hole, the inspector observed that the right rear piston had seized in the No. 3 cylinder and its respective connecting rod was broken just above crankshaft rod end flare. The inspector could not identify the rod end cap or the bearing shells. The No. 3 piston skirt was visibly scorched in the direction of piston travel. A visual examination of the engine, disclosed that all of the cylinders were worn and scored. After the accident, the owner took the engine to a maintenance facility that examined the engine and reported that rod bearing in the No. 3 cylinder failed. The facility declined to provide detailed observations on the internal condition of the engine, the rod fracture, and condition of the bearing. The FAA inspector said the pilot told him that prior to the accident, the engine was experiencing excessive oil consumption. In response, the pilot removed the No. 3 cylinder from the engine and employed an engine shop to change the piston in an effort to alleviate the excessive oil consumption problems. After the maintenance was preformed, the pilot reinstalled the cylinder. The inspector added that sometime prior to the accident the pilot had also modified the engine by installing larger pistons.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of engine power due to the failure of the #3 cylinder piston and connecting rod for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/21/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1243 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | San Luis Obispo |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 93401 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 351400N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1203800W |
| Event Location Airport | San Luis County Regional Airpo |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | SBP |
| 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 | 90 |
| Airport Elevation | 212 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1246 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SBP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 193 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1200 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.07 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 316 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17764 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 21 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1255 |
| 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-FSDO-San Jose |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N309TS |
| NTSB Number | LAX04LA169 |
| 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 | In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Stanley |
| Aircraft Model | Glasair SH-2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 309 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2200 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 25 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 26 |
| Airframe Hours | 1691 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Thomas L. Stanley |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | On File |
| Aircraft Owner City | Shell Beach |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 93449 |
| 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 | CRO |
| Departure City | Corcoran |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1215 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | SBP |
| Destination City | San Luis Obispo |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 31 2005 5:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |