Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Athleimer, Arkansas 72004
Thursday, June 16, 2011 13:30 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot had just started his first pass spraying fertilizer when the turboprop engine “exploded” and the propeller suddenly stopped. He saw flames around the cowling and soot and pieces of metal were exiting the exhaust stack. The pilot made a forced landing to a field, which resulted in the landing gear being torn from the airplane. The pilot was able to exit before the airplane was completely consumed by fire. A teardown examination of the engine revealed a failure in the first stage planetary gearset of the propeller reduction gearbox. All the gear teeth of the sun gear were ground down as far as the gear tooth roots, and the three meshing planetary gear teeth were battered and mutilated with only about 2/3 of the gear teeth height remaining. Review of the documentation of the last repair revealed that the gearset was a used replacement from another engine, contrary to manufacturer guidance, which states that first stage planetary gears should be replaced with a new gearset. The shop that sold the used gearset had misrepresented it as being zero-timed. The hours accumulated on the used gearset were beyond the manufacturer’s recommended time between overhaul.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Failure of the first stage planetary gearset in the propeller reduction gearbox, which resulted in catastrophic engine failure. Contributing to the failure was the misrepresentation of the gearset being zero-timed by the company that sold the gearset to the operator. Also contributing was the total accumulated hours on the used gearset, which were beyond the manufacturer's recommended time between overhaul.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/16/2011 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1330 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Athleimer |
| Event State | ARKANSAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 72004 |
| Event Date Year | 2011 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 341911N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0915028W |
| 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 | 900 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PBF |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 206 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| 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) | 32 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 22 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 270 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 6 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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) | 31611 |
| NTSB Notification Source | LIT FSDO |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 19 2013 1:47PM |
| User who most recently changed record | bowl |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N30902 |
| NTSB Number | CEN11LA404 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 137: Agricultural |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground and In-flight |
| Aircraft Explosion | In-flight |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | AYRES CORPORATION |
| Aircraft Model | S2R-T34 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | T41-179 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 8738 |
| 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 | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 13 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 5328 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SWAN LAKE FLYING SERVICES INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 15121 S AR HWY 88 |
| Aircraft Owner City | ALTHEIMER |
| Aircraft Owner State | AR |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 72004 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | SWAN LAKE FLYING SERVICES INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 15121 S AR HWY 88 |
| Operator City | ALTHEIMER |
| Operator State | AR |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 72004 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | None |
| Departure City | Athleimer |
| Departure State | AR |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1325 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Athleimer |
| Destination State | AR |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 13 2013 6:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | yeal |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |