Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Granbury Regional Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Granbury, Texas 76048
Wednesday, July 2, 2014 8:42 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On July 2, 2014, about 0842 central daylight time, a Piper PA-28-140, N9898W, sustained substantial damage during a forced landing after a loss of engine power during takeoff at the Granbury Regional Airport (GDJ), Granbury, Texas. The flight instructor and passenger were not injured. The airplane was registered to Thunderbolt Aviation LLC and operated by Iron Compass Aviation under the provisions of the 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as an instructional flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and a visual flight rules flight plan was filed. The airplane was departing GDJ and was en route to the Waco Regional Airport (ACT), Waco, Texas.
The flight instructor reported that the airplane was about 500 feet above ground level when the engine started to run rough along with a loss of engine power. The engine rpm decreased to about 1,100 rpm as the flight instructor attempted to complete a 180-degree turn back to the airport. However, he was unable to land on the airport, so he completed a forced landing to a field short of the runway. The airplane's right wing hit a tree during the landing roll, which resulted in substantial damage to the wing.
The on-site examination of the airplane by Federal Aviation Administration inspectors revealed that there appeared to be no damage to the engine and no apparent reason for the loss of engine power. The airplane wreckage was transported to an aircraft storage facility for further examination and an engine run.
An engine run was conducted using an external fuel supply. After priming the fuel system with the electric fuel pump, the engine was started. The engine sounded like it was running rough, and some black smoke could be seen from the exhaust. After a brief warm up, the engine would not operate more than about 1,600 rpm at full throttle. The engine run was stopped and a compression check was performed. The No. 3 cylinder did not have any compression. The examination of the No. 3 cylinder revealed that the exhaust valve was broken in several pieces and some fragments remained in the cylinder. The broken exhaust valve, spring, exhaust valve keepers, and rotator cap all exhibited carbon build-up. The piston and cylinder head exhibited gouging and scraping consistent with secondary damage from the fragments. The examination of the No. 3 cylinder exhaust valve rotator cap revealed that it had a wear pattern on the top of the cap that was consistent with rocker arm wear, and no rotational signatures along the edge of the cap where there was heavy carbon build-up.
The engine was a 150-horsepower Lycoming O-320-E2A. The last annual maintenance inspection was conducted on June 2, 2014, with at total aircraft time of 3,464 hours. At the time of the accident, the engine had about 2,040 hours since the last overhaul. The airplane had flown about 46 hours since the annual/100-hour maintenance inspection. The recommended time between overhauls (TBO) is 2,000 hours, but it is not a mandatory requirement under Part 91 regulations.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/2/2014 |
| Event Day of the Week | Wednesday |
| Time of Event | 842 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | Granbury |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 76048 |
| Event Date Year | 2014 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 322610N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0974848W |
| Event Location Airport | Granbury Regional Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | GDJ |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 1 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 180 |
| Airport Elevation | 777 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 835 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | GDJ |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 778 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Variable |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Light and Variable |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.07 |
| 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-ASW-ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 29 2014 5:20PM |
| User who most recently changed record | silj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N9898W |
| NTSB Number | CEN14LA334 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-28-140 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28-23418 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | 4 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | -- |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jun 2 2014 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 3464 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | THUNDERBOLT AVIATION LLC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | PO BOX 7004 |
| Aircraft Owner City | GRANBURY |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 760490135 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Iron Compass Aviation |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 400 Howard Clemmons Rd. |
| Operator City | Granbury |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 76049 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | GDJ |
| Departure City | Granbury |
| Departure State | TX |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 840 |
| Departure Time Zone | CDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ACT |
| Destination City | Waco |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 27 2014 2:55PM |
| User who most recently changed record | silj |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 14 |
| Runway Length | 3603 |
| Runway Width | 60 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |