Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Palos Verdes, California 90274
Saturday, August 20, 2005 14:20 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During a banner towing flight over the ocean along the coast, the engine lost power and the airplane ditched in the water. While in cruise flight, the engine began to run rough and lose a significant amount of power. The pilot attempted corrective measures (applying and removing carburetor heat and releasing the banner), but the airplane continued to lose power. The engine was not producing enough power for continued flight and the pilot landed in the water short of the beach. When the airplane hit the water, it nosed over and came to rest inverted. Post accident examination revealed that the number 4 piston had fractured around the circumference of the piston just above the connecting rod pin and had beach mark signatures consistent with cyclic fatigue. Fractured pieces of the piston were found in the oil sump. The aft piston pin end cap was worn and burnished. The forward piston pin end cap separated from the piston pin, with fracture surface signatures consistent with overload. The rod journal bearing was also worn and burnished. The number 4 connecting rod journal of the crankshaft was cracked and the connecting rod cheek on the crankshaft was fractured perpendicular to the rod journal. The journal cheek fracture exhibited beach marks consistent with cyclic fatigue. The fracture had an irregular shape that provided a "key" that maintained rotational continuity of the crankshaft during operation; however, the fracture also allowed the crankshaft to flex. Flexing of the crankshaft induced a rotational misalignment of the connecting rod, which in turn induced the cyclic fatigue failure of the piston. This condition was likely on-going for some time prior to the final fatigue failure. Copious amounts of small metal debris and flakes were retrieved from the oil pressure filter screen that were consistent with the rod end cap bearing material and should have been apparent if the screen and filter were being checked for contaminants on a regular basis. Lycoming Mandatory Service Bulletin (SB) No. 480E recommends an oil change, pressure screen cleaning and oil sump screen check at 25-hour intervals. The SB continues that observation of abnormal metal content during the service may indicate additional service is required. Examination of maintenance records revealed that it had been 112 hours since the last 100-hour inspection at the time of the accident. The aircraft and engine logbooks contained no record of the operator following the recommended procedures as set forth in SB 480E.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
a loss of engine power due to the cyclic fatigue failure and separation of the number 4 piston.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 8/20/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1420 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Palos Verdes |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90274 |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 334612N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1182500W |
| 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 | 1750 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 30 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TOA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 4 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 24 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 300 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.97 |
| 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) | 20980 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Aug 20 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 26 2007 11:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Federal Aviation Administration Long Beach FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N294T |
| NTSB Number | LAX05LA273 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-18-105 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 182468 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 120 |
| Airframe Hours | 12589 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Van Wagner Aerial Media LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1600 E. Airport Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Hollywood |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33023 |
| 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) | Banner Tow |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | LGB |
| Departure City | LONG BEACH |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1205 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| 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 | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 5 2006 6:04PM |
| 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 | -- |