Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
San Carlos, California 94070
Saturday, September 13, 2008 10:00 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot departed on a local area flight when the engine had higher than normal RPMs. The pilot elected to return to the departure airport and his mechanic inspected the airplane. The mechanic discovered a blister in the engine casing and fragments of metal in the oil. The engine was then disassembled and a ball bearing from the propeller governor was located in the engine which had the potential of resulting in a catastrophic engine failure. Examination of the engine showed that the ball bearings from the governor were able to pass through the oil drain hole of the governor. Follow up examinations of the propeller governor showed that the governor bearing race and plunger were assembled with the bearing race set screw and plunger hole misaligned. When the bearing race set screw was torqued down, the set screw tip flattened against the harder plunger surface. During operation, the set screw/plunger race separated.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The improper assembly of the governor during manufacture.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 9/13/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1000 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | San Carlos |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 94070 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 373043N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1221458W |
| 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 | 947 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 300 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SQL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 5 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| 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) | 15 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 12 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.93 |
| 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) | 25986 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA San Jose FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 15 2009 4:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N419JS |
| NTSB Number | SEA08IA217 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | DIAMOND |
| Aircraft Model | DA 40 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 40-439 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2535 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jan 18 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 559 |
| Airframe Hours | 559 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | C91 |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Brian Curry |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | San Francisco |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 94107 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Brian Curry |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | San Francisco |
| Operator State | CA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 94107 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | SQL |
| Departure City | San Carlos |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 940 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | SQL |
| Destination City | San Carlos |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 15 2009 4:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | stam |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |