Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Downs, Kansas 67437
Wednesday, April 20, 2005 18:15 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The agricultural spray airplane sustained substantial damage during a forced landing to a farm field after a loss of engine power. The pilot reported that he was "pulling the airplane up into a right hand turn" at the end of a spray run when he heard a loud "bang" and the engine started to run "really rough." He executed a forced landing to a field. The landing gear broke off due to the soft field conditions. The engine was a 450 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-985-14B engine. The engine was overhauled 43 hours prior to the accident. At overhaul, the engine had accumulated a total time of 7,027.1 hours. The engine logbook noted that AD 78-0807 was complied with. AD 78-0807 was effective May 2, 1978 for ultrasonic and visual inspections every 150 hours time in service to detect cracking and "to prevent cylinder head separation from the barrel." The logbook did not contain specific information on the previous histories of the installed cylinders. The inspection of the airplane revealed that the number 2 cylinder was broken at the third large cooling vent up from the bottom. The upper portion on the head assembly had separated from the sleeve. The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) Materials Laboratory report noted that the fracture faces were covered by extensive and heavy combustion products and required extensive cleanings to reveal fracture details. Examinations of the fracture faces revealed features and topography indicative of a large area of fatigue progression. The fatigue area was on the aft side of the cylinder, biased toward the exhaust valve. Fracture face markings indicative of multiple fatigue initiation at the inner diameter threads along a wide arc of approximately 140 degrees. Progression was radial through the head with complete penetration over and arc of about 60 degrees centered in the fatigue region. The cylinder head was permanently marked with UT05, UT97, UT91, UT89, and UT89 stamped in the head near the intake port. The "UT" markings on the head are consistent with the markings required by AD 78-0807 and they denote five different ultrasonic inspections since 1989.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The loss of engine power due to the failure of the number two cylinder which was the result of the maintenance facility's failure to detect the fatigue crack in the number two cylinder during the engine overhaul. A factor to the accident was the soft field.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/20/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1815 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Downs |
| Event State | KANSAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 67437 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 395033N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0985467W |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1853 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 195 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | RSL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1862 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 40 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 17 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.74 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 19314 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 20 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2104 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 28 2006 1:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-Wichita, KS FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9026F |
| NTSB Number | CHI05LA104 |
| 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 | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Weatherly |
| Aircraft Model | 620B |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1639 |
| 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 | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 43 |
| Airframe Hours | 2319 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AG Care By Air Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | P.O. Box 192 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Smith Center |
| Aircraft Owner State | KS |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 66967 |
| 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) | Aerial Application |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Private |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | -- |
| Departure Time | 1730 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Maneuvering - aerial application |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 5 2006 2:34PM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| 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 | -- |