Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Orlando Apopka Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Apopka, Florida 32712
Sunday, February 23, 2014 13:35 EST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot reported that, during the approach to landing, the airplane’s propeller stopped spinning but that the engine continued functioning normally. He subsequently made a forced landing to a field. During the landing, the airplane flipped over and came to rest inverted, which resulted in substantial damage to the wings and vertical stabilizer.
Postaccident examination of the engine revealed that the spline shaft had uncoupled from the drive disk adapter. The splines of the spline shaft, the drive disk adapter, and the propeller speed reduction unit (PSRU) input spline exhibited signs of severe wear consistent with fretting corrosion. Research revealed that several spline shaft failures had occurred on other airplanes; some of the failures resulted in a loss of engine power and subsequent forced landings, whereas some of the failures were identified during inspection. The manufacturer issued guidance to users to apply a nickel or copper antiseize compound on the spline shaft during installation of the PSRU to decrease wear; however, the manufacturer did not provide users with any instructions or recommendations to routinely inspect and lubricate the spline components. The pilot/builder reported that the PSRU and spline shaft had not been removed, lubricated, or inspected since it had been installed about 325 hours before the accident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the propeller spline shaft, the drive disk adapter, and the propeller speed reduction unit (PSRU) input spline due to a lack of inspection and lubrication, which resulted in a total loss of propeller drive and a subsequent forced landing. Contributing to the accident was the lack of manufacturer guidance for inspecting and lubricating the PSRU gearbox spline components.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/23/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1335 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Standard Time |
| Event City | Apopka |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 32712 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 284631N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0813126E |
| Event Location Airport | ORLANDO Apopka Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | X04 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 4 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 360 |
| Airport Elevation | 142 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1353 Eastern Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SFB |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 55 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 14 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2900 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Few |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.02 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | METAR KSFB 231853Z 21007KT 10SM FEW029 27/19 A3002 |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| 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 | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 33184 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Southern ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 3 2014 9:22AM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N19VC |
| NTSB Number | ERA14LA130 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | VICTOR M CORDERO |
| Aircraft Model | RV-9A |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 90319 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1800 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 12 2013 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 278 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CORDERO VICTOR M |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | SANFORD |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 327738184 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | CORDERO VICTOR M |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | SANFORD |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 327738184 |
| 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 | MYAM |
| Departure City | Marsh Harbour |
| Departure State | FN |
| Departure Country | BF |
| Departure Time | 1130 |
| Departure Time Zone | EST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SFB |
| Destination City | Sanford |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 3 2014 9:22AM |
| 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 | -- |