Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Oak Grove, Louisiana 71263
Wednesday, June 6, 2007 11:00 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The 5,475-hour commercial pilot reported that after performing an aerial application pass in his radial-engine-powered airplane, he initiated a turn to reverse direction to start another pass. At the top of the turn, he heard a loud bang from the radial engine, followed by the sound of the engine winding down. He also noticed white smoke from the exhaust, a loss of power, and a drop in manifold pressure. The pilot made an forced landing to a field, where the airplane rolled about 250 yards before it flipped over. The airplane was released to the owner after the accident, who later sold it to another operator. Due to the damage sustained in the accident, the engine was disassembled and examined before the new owner could return the airplane back to service. The new owner provided an engine disassembly report. According to the report, "undetermined causes resulted in distress to the phenolic separator bracket of the rear impeller support bearing resulted in its separation and fragmentation." The reports adds that "this initiated a chain reaction of events throughout the rest of the engine as clearances, lack of lubrication and subsequent wearing of engine components took place." This damage ultimately resulted in destruction of the blower labyrinth seal and the impeller gear train, which reduced power output. The engine reports concludes that "the destroyed impeller drive gear train and the distress caused by the displaced blower spring drive mechanism, coupled with reduced power output, resulted in seizure of the propeller shaft/crankshaft and complete loss of power."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A complete loss of power due to failure of the impeller drive gear train and displacement of the blower spring drive mechanism, which resulted in seizure of the propeller shaft/crankshaft. Also causal was the failure of the phenolic separator bracket of the rear impeller support bearing for undetermined reasons. A factor was the none suitable terrain for the forced landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/6/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 1100 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Oak Grove |
| Event State | LOUISIANA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 71263 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 325142N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0912322W |
| 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 | 1053 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KMLU |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 79 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| 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) | 31 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 20 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 180 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| 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) | 22381 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA ROCC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 6 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 29 2007 8:02AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Baton Rouge, Luisiana |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N92PK |
| NTSB Number | DFW07LA138 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Air Tractor |
| Aircraft Model | AT-401 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 401-0821 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 6000 |
| 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 | May 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 40 |
| Airframe Hours | 4680 |
| ELT Installed | -- |
| ELT Activated | -- |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WHITTINGTON AIR & GROUND LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO Box 308 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Eudora |
| Aircraft Owner State | AR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 71640 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | WHITTINGTON AIR & GROUND LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | PO Box 308 |
| Operator City | Eudora |
| Operator State | AR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 71640 |
| 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 | -- |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | -- |
| Departure City | Eudora |
| Departure State | AR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1015 |
| 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? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 27 2007 4:51PM |
| User who most recently changed record | CASH |
| 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 | -- |