Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Ontario Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ontario, California 91761
Sunday, July 25, 2004 11:50 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane collided with a berm during a forced landing in an open field about 3/4-mile from an airport following a loss of engine power. The pilot reported that initially during the flight the engine had operated normally. However, after flying for several minutes, the engine started running rough, and oil appeared on the front windshield. Thereafter, all engine power was lost. During the subsequent examination of the engine about 10 quarts of oil were found in the sump, and a hole was found in the engine's case next to the oil dipstick port. The teardown examination of the engine revealed that, for undetermined reasons, the connecting rod bearing on rod number 5 had overheated to failure, and the connecting rod broke. The engine had been operated 40 hours since its last inspection and 806 hours since last receiving a major overhaul. The airplane's total time was about 6,325 hours.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a catastrophic engine failure due to the overheating of a connecting rod bearing, and the resulting failure of the rod, for undetermined reasons.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/25/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1150 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Ontario |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 91761 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 340318N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1173354W |
| Event Location Airport | Ontario |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ONT |
| 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 | 944 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1153 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 270 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ONT |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 944 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 1 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 9000 |
| 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) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 33 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 15 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 260 |
| 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) | 29.96 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KONT 251853Z 26010KT 9SM FEW090 33/15 A2996 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17772 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 25 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| 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 Riverside, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5GC |
| NTSB Number | LAX04LA280 |
| 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-32RT-300 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 32R-7985030 |
| 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 | Nov 19 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 40 |
| Airframe Hours | 6325 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | 5 Gulf Charlie, LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 12077 N. Country Club Drive |
| Aircraft Owner City | Charlevoix |
| Aircraft Owner State | MI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 49720 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Joseph F. Trocki, III |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Alta Loma |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 91701 |
| 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 | CCB |
| Departure City | Upland |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1130 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | CCB |
| Destination City | Upland |
| 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 | Apr 7 2005 5:23PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 26R |
| Runway Length | 12198 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |