Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Rockford Municipal Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Rockford, Idaho 83221
Monday, July 16, 2012 9:50 MDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On July 16, 2012, at 0950 mountain daylight time, a Cessna 172N, N5204K, experienced a loss of engine power in cruise flight. The pilot subsequently made a forced landing in an open field near Rockford, Idaho. During the landing, the airplane came to rest inverted. The certified flight instructor (CFI) operated the rental airplane from Teton Leasing, LLC, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The CFI and student pilot were not injured. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the wings and tail section. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the cross-country flight that departed Idaho Falls Regional Airport (IDA), Idaho Falls, Idaho, at 0835. The flight was destined for IDA, and a visual flight rules (VFR) flight plan had been filed.
In the CFI’s statement, he reported that he and the student performed a preflight of the airplane. The flight would take them from IDA to Arco-Butte County Airport (AOC), Arco, Idaho, onto McCarley Field Airport (U02), Blackfoot, Idaho, and back to IDA. No discrepancies were noted with the run-up or takeoff, and the flight to AOC was normal. Upon arrival at AOC, they performed a go-around, and then a touch-and-go landing. The CFI stated that after the landing, they departed for U02. About 12 miles northwest of U02, the engine began to vibrate and the engine revolutions dropped to approximately 1,900 rpm. Carburetor heat was applied, and the mixture was set to rich. They verified that the fuel selector was in the BOTH position. The CFI reported that the airplane was not able to maintain altitude, and that they would not make U02, so they decided to divert for a forced landing at Rockford Municipal Airport (2U4).
Upon arrival at 2U4, they were able to overfly the airport and determined the winds were calm, and elected to land on runway 16. The approach was too high and with too much airspeed, and they had to abort the landing. As the airplane departed the airport boundary, it cleared power lines, and the CFI reported that the only place to land was a wheat field directly ahead of them. The CFI recalled hearing the stall warning horn, and, as the airplane’s main landing gear contacted the wheat, there was a sudden deceleration, the airplane’s nose pitched down, and the airplane came to rest inverted.
The airplane was inspected by an airworthiness inspect from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The visual inspection of the engine revealed no catastrophic failures; however, during the compression check, the numbers 2 and 3 cylinders had no compression. A closer inspection of the number 3 cylinder revealed damage to the piston, and the exhaust valve was not present. The intake tubes for the numbers 2 and 3 cylinders, as well as the exhaust system for the engine, were removed. With the exhaust section removed, the FAA inspector was able to see the head of the missing valve embedded into the cylinder head; the valve stem was also missing and more than likely had exited the airplane while in flight. Inspection of the number 2 cylinder revealed a large amount of metal dust and debris in the intake and exhaust ports.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/16/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 950 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Daylight Time |
| Event City | Rockford |
| Event State | IDAHO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 83221 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 431122N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1123154W |
| Event Location Airport | Rockford Municipal Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 2U4 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 4465 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 953 Mountain Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 190 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PIH |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4452 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 17 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| 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) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 50 |
| 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) | 30.01 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA AMN Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 11 2012 12:04PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5204K |
| NTSB Number | WPR12LA306 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 172N |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 17274009 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | TETON LEASING LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | POCATELLO |
| Aircraft Owner State | ID |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 83204-7550 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | TETON LEASING LLC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | POCATELLO |
| Operator State | ID |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 83204-7550 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | IDA |
| Departure City | Idaho Falls |
| Departure State | ID |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 835 |
| Departure Time Zone | MDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | 2U4 |
| Destination City | Rockford |
| Destination State | ID |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 11 2012 12:05PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coos |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 2800 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |