Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Covington, Washington 98092
Monday, March 7, 2005 19:00 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that he had just dropped off a passenger and was returning to his home base. The pilot stated that after departure and climbing through 5,000 feet, he heard a noise. He continued to climb to altitude, and the noise appeared to have stopped, but he noticed that the oil temperature was increasing. The pilot enrichened the mixture and the oil pressure suddenly dropped. The pilot turned back to his departure airport, and when about eight miles from the airport, he heard a "knocking" noise, then the engine lost power. The pilot could not locate the airport, so he opted to make an off airport landing to a road. During the maneuver for landing, the right wing collided with trees, substantially damaging the outboard about five feet of wing structure. During the post-accident inspection of the engine it was found that engine oil was present on the belly of the fuselage from the nose to the tail. Approximately 20 gallons of fuel was present in the wing fuel tanks. The forward crankshaft seal was only partially seated in the nose of the engine case. The lower numbers 1 and 4 spark plugs were removed and showed signs of lead fouling. The numbers 3 and 4 primer lines were found loose at the cylinder. The numbers 1 and 3 connecting rods failed and the numbers 2 and 4 connecting rod bearing material was melted and squeezed between the rod cap and the crankshaft. The engine case halves displayed several holes. The number 2 cylinder cracked the case around the cylinder base and was attached to the engine by two studs.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of connecting rods during cruise flight resulting in a loss of engine power. Trees were a factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/7/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1900 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Covington |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98092 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | -- |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | -- |
| Event Location Latitude | 471832N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1220518W |
| 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 | 1856 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SEA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 22000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 13 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 10 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.24 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 18379 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Regional Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 7 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1915 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 13 2005 12:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle, Washington |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N65579 |
| NTSB Number | SEA05LA057 |
| 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 | Cessna |
| Aircraft Model | 152 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15281631 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1670 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 8710 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Stephen G Sybouts |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Yakima |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98908 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | John W. Gilman |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Yakima |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 98908 |
| 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 | S50 |
| Departure City | Auburn |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1830 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | YKM |
| Destination City | Yakima |
| Destination State | WA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency descent/landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 21 2005 3:39PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| 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 | -- |