Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Berkeley County Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Macedonia, South Carolina 29461
Wednesday, February 23, 2005 17:19 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While approaching Moncks Corner Airport to land, the airplane's engine seized and the pilot was forced to land on tree tops about 400 feet from the runway. Post-accident examination of the engine assembly revealed four fatigue cracks on the planetary carrier housing that propagated outboard and caused the housing to fracture into multiple pieces. The teeth around the sun gear in the area that corresponds to the planetary gears were fractured and exhibited deformation. The teeth of the planetary gears showed deformation. The splined lock was examined and exhibited fretting damage. The width of the fretting/galling damage on the four flat surfaces was wider compared to the thickness of the mating square slot on the cap, consistent with lateral movement between the splined lock and cap. All spine teeth on the splined lock showed deformation. Dimensional inspection of the gears were performed on the engine approximately 98 hours prior to the accident. At that time, a new sun gear was installed in the engine. The mating four planetary gears were not replaced and not required to be replaced. Uneven wear between gear faces caused stresses to be distributed unevenly between the gears, resulting in accelerated wear of the gears. Wear of the planetary gears are required to be evaluated when the engine is overhauled, but there is no record of a recent engine overhaul.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The fatigue cracking of the planetary gear housing, which resulted in the loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/23/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1719 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Macedonia |
| Event State | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 29461 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 331116N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0800214W |
| Event Location Airport | BERKELEY COUNTY |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 50J |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1721 Central Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CHS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 45 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 900 |
| 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) | 5 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 110 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.05 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 19109 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Com Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 23 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1845 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 28 2006 12:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Columbia FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N2296Y |
| NTSB Number | ATL05LA052 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | WSK PZL Mielec |
| Aircraft Model | M-18A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1Z018-27 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| 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 | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 1 2004 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 98 |
| Airframe Hours | 4470.9 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AG AVIATION EQUIPMENT LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | RR 2 BOX 32B |
| Aircraft Owner City | POND CREEK |
| Aircraft Owner State | OK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 73766 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | David Melvin Hill |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 105 Grayson Dr. |
| Operator City | Jonesboro |
| Operator State | AR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 72404 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Agriculture |
| 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) | Aerial Application |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 50J |
| Departure City | Moncks Corner |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | 50J |
| Destination City | MONCKS CORNER |
| Destination State | SC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 23 2005 11:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | POWP |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | 3800 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |