Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Hoschton, Georgia 30548
Sunday, December 17, 2006 14:54 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated he was in cruise flight at 2,500 feet when the engine lost power. He attempted an engine restart with negative results, and made a forced landing in a field. During landing, the airplane collided with a terrain terrace/berm and nosed over. The airplane was recovered, and an engine run was conducted under the supervision of the FAA. The airplane's engine controls, propeller system, battery source, and electric fuel pump were used, and an alternate fuel source was supplied to the engine. Several attempts to start the engine were unsuccessful. An examination of the Airflow fuel injection system was found to be missing the necessary safety wire on the purge valve stop screw. The stop screw had migrated out of the purge valve housing approximately one-eighth of an inch. The purge valve was isolated from the fuel system by routing the fuel supply line directly to the fuel flow divider/distribution block. The engine was started, ran at idle power, advanced to a high power setting, and shut down with the mixture control. Examination of the airplane log books, additional documents maintained by the registered owner, and work orders from the manufacturer, revealed the purge valve and distribution block had been returned to the manufacturer as a complete assembly on two occasions by the registered owner. The purge valve and distribution block were repaired, sent back to the registered owner as a complete assembly, and installed on the airplane by the registered owner. The manufacturer's installation and service manual states, "Leak check all connections and plumbing before starting engine. Lock wire all hardware. Make sure to lock wire the stop screw. If removal of the valve is necessary make sure to relock wire the purge valve stop screw. Failure to do so will result in sudden stoppage of the engine if the screw backs out." The registered owner stated he did not remove the safety wire from the purge valve mounting bolts or stop screw. The manufacturer stated all components that left their shop were assembled, tested, and tested in limits, as well as lock wired. Review of the Work Order/Job Progress Sheet used by the manufacturer during the assembly of the purge valve on December 4, 2002, revealed the relock wire had been signed off by the technician as having been completed. The Work Order/Job Progress Sheet used by the manufacturer during the assembly of the purge valve by the technician during the last repair on January 13, 2005, was not signed off by the technician as having been safety wired as required by the manufacturer's installation and service manual.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the manufacturer to safety wire the purge valve stop screw during maintenance resulting in a total loss of engine power in cruise flight due to fuel starvation. This resulted in a forced landing, on-ground collision with a berm/terrace, and subsequent nose over.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/17/2006 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1454 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Hoschton |
| Event State | GEORGIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 30548 |
| Event Date Year | 2006 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 385835N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0834002W |
| 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 | 1551 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KAHN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 808 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 17 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| 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) | 20 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 7 |
| 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 | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21315 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Communication Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 17 2006 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 25 2007 2:54PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | College Park FSDO-11 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N360WS |
| NTSB Number | ATL07LA028 |
| 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 | Scharnhorst |
| Aircraft Model | RV-4 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3767 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1600 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 1 2006 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 340 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Yes |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1530 Pilgrim Road |
| Aircraft Owner City | Cumming |
| Aircraft Owner State | GA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 30040 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Wiley E. Scharnhorst |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KWDR |
| Departure City | Winder |
| Departure State | GA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1415 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | GA27 |
| Destination City | Cumming |
| Destination State | GA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 27 2007 12:48PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |