Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Panama City, Florida 32413
Monday, March 18, 2013 14:05 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot departed and picked up an aerial advertising banner for a local flight. About 6 minutes later, the airplane’s engine suddenly lost all power. The pilot unsuccessfully attempted to troubleshoot the loss of engine power, jettisoned the banner at an altitude of about 500 feet, and performed a forced landing to a pine forest below, which resulted in substantial damage to the airplane. Postaccident examination of the engine revealed that the crankshaft gear alignment dowel had sheared and that the gear had rotated from its normal position. The gear’s attaching hardware remained installed and undamaged. Detailed examination of the gear and alignment dowel showed that their hardness was consistent with that required by the design and that they were within or nearly within nominal dimensional tolerances described by the manufacturer. The counter-bored pilot hole at the aft of the crankshaft where the gear was seated was between 0.0008 and 0.0013-inch oversized. There were no discrepancies found with the retaining bolt, and it could be threaded into the crankshaft with minimal resistance. A definitive cause for the loss of preload to the crankshaft gear attaching bolt could not be determined during the engine examination. Review of maintenance records showed that the engine had been installed onto the accident airplane following an overhaul, which was originally precipitated by a propeller strike. The records provided that documented the overhaul and returned the airplane/engine to service lacked language specifying compliance with a manufacturer service bulletin that provided explicit instructions for the installation of the crankshaft gear to the crankshaft; however, the provided records did document part numbers and torque values consistent with those specified by the service bulletin.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of preload to the crankshaft gear attachment bolt, resulting in rotation of the crankshaft gear and a subsequent total loss of engine power. The root cause for the loss of preload could not be determined during a postaccident examination of the components.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/18/2013 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1405 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Panama City |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32413 |
| Event Date Year | 2013 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 302029N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0854955W |
| 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 | 1353 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 65 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KECP |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 68 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 2600 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| 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) | 18 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 130 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 16 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 21 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.94 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KECP 181753Z 13016G21KT 10SM SCT015 BKN026 2 |
| 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) | 33124 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Southern C-ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 13 2014 11:10AM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N86AB |
| NTSB Number | ERA13LA174 |
| 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 | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-25-235 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 25-3409 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 4800 |
| 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 | Feb 22 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 63 |
| Airframe Hours | 8100 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AERIAL BANNERS INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 601 SW 77TH WAY |
| Aircraft Owner City | PEMBROKE PINES |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33023-2591 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | AERIAL BANNERS INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 601 SW 77TH WAY |
| Operator City | PEMBROKE PINES |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 33023-2591 |
| 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) | Banner Tow |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | ECP |
| Departure City | Panama City |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1400 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | ECP |
| Destination City | Panama City |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 13 2014 11:10AM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |