Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Tipton, Pennsylvania 16684
Friday, May 18, 2012 16:20 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot stated that, during cruise flight, he noticed that the engine rpm began fluctuating and that, about 20 seconds later, the rpm dropped. The pilot immediately looked at the oil pressure gauge and observed that it was “reading zero.” He then declared an emergency with air traffic control, and a controller informed him that the nearest airport was 15 miles south of his location. He brought the engine back to idle to keep it from seizing in case power would be needed later to avoid terrain, which was primarily mountain ridges with hills and narrow valleys, and set the propeller to low rpm. The pilot realized that he could not make it to the nearest airport and chose to land on a road in an industrial park. The landing was uneventful, but, during the landing roll, the airplane was substantially damaged when the left wing struck a standpipe and the airplane subsequently nosed over. Examination of the engine revealed that a 1/2-inch metal oil line had fractured at the rocker’s scavenge oil tube adjacent to the coupling sleeve and nut. Further examination revealed that the metal oil line had failed in fatigue in the manufactured bend adjacent to the coupling sleeve, that it was at least 34 years old, and that it had probably been reused many times. The oil tube assembly also displayed a distinctive bend and compression at the bead end and a slight bend at the nut end that were not specified on the manufacturer’s drawings and were consistent with the oil tube assembly being significantly bent to fit on the engine. The manufactured bends also displayed oval cross-sections not specified in the drawings. The oval cross-sections may have been produced by the original manufacturing process but were likely produced by bending at each reuse, which would have initiated bending fatigue. Cracks propagating from the fracture face at the centerline of the tube were also present. Hardness testing revealed that the tubing at the fractured bend was harder than a sample of tubing that had not been subjected to any bending and that it exceeded the specified maximum hardness. This testing indicated that the increased hardness of the tubing in the bend had been produced by the original manufacturing process and/or by subsequent work hardening (that is, the undesirable strengthening of a metal such as copper by plastic deformation).
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A fatigue failure of a copper oil line, which resulted in a partial loss of engine power due to oil starvation.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/18/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1620 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Tipton |
| Event State | PENNSYLVANIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 16684 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 403750N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0781801W |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| 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 | 1653 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 225 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | AOO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1503 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 5 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.15 |
| 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) | 32639 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Pennsylvania Emergency Managem |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 30 2014 3:10PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9859A |
| NTSB Number | ERA12LA343 |
| 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 | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 195A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 7552 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3350 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 18 2012 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 2 |
| Airframe Hours | 4525 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | HALEM MICHAEL A |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | NEW YORK |
| Aircraft Owner State | NY |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 10023-5941 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | HALEM MICHAEL A |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | NEW YORK |
| Operator State | NY |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 10023-5941 |
| 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 | 3N6 |
| Departure City | Old Bridge |
| Departure State | NJ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1500 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | PJC |
| Destination City | Zelienople |
| Destination State | PA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 30 2014 3:10PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| 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 | -- |