ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 182359
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| Date: | Tuesday 15 December 2015 |
| Time: | 10:50 |
| Type: |  Piper PA-32-300 Cherokee Six |
| Owner/operator: | Kdk Associates Inc |
| Registration: | N8675N |
| MSN: | 32-7240019 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1971 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 5032 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming IO-550 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | St. Simons Island, GA -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Jacksonville, FL (CRG) |
| Rock Hill, SC (UZA) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The private pilot was conducting a personal cross-country flight. The pilot reported that the airplane was in cruise flight at 7,500 ft mean sea level when, without any warning, there was a loud explosion from the engine and an immediate loss of engine power. The explosion caused the oil filler door to open, and oil subsequently spewed over the windshield, and smoke filled the cockpit. The pilot declared an emergency and attempted to glide to a nearby airport; however, he landed the airplane on a rooftop a few hundred yards short of the runway.
Examination of the engine revealed that the No. 4 cylinder had separated from the engine case. All of the No.4 cylinder mounting stubs and through bolts were fractured except for the bottom forward stub; the nut for this stub was not located. The piston and corresponding connecting rod for the No. 4 cylinder were found in the bottom of the engine cowling.
A review of the engine maintenance logbooks revealed that the engine was overhauled almost 8 years before the accident and had accrued a total time of 1,005.0 hours since overhaul. There were no subsequent maintenance entries related to the No. 4 cylinder. Based on the evidence, it is likely that maintenance personnel applied insufficient torque to the cylinder’s bottom forward hold-down nut, which allowed it to loosen over time. The stress load was then transferred to the remaining nuts, which resulted in the failure of the stubs and through bolts and to the separation of the No. 4 cylinder.
Probable Cause: Maintenance personnel's failure to properly torque a No. 4 cylinder hold-down nut during engine overhaul, which resulted in the loosening of the nut and the subsequent failure of the studs and through bolts and separation of the cylinder.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB
Location
Media:
Plane crash-lands on St. Simons home https://t.co/CmdmC3QcoQ pic.twitter.com/8J29qZeftg
— News 6 WKMG (@news6wkmg) December 15, 2015Crane lowering plane that made roof top landing in St. Simons.@FCN2go pic.twitter.com/5MU4LWiIX8
— Roger Weeder (@fcnroger) December 15, 2015Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 15-Dec-2015 20:44 | Iceman 29 | Added |
| 15-Dec-2015 20:48 | harro | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Departure airport, Source, Embed code] |
| 15-Dec-2015 22:14 | Geno | Updated [Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Embed code] |
| 16-Dec-2015 18:40 | Iceman 29 | Updated [Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
| 21-Dec-2016 19:30 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Damage, Category, Investigating agency] |
| 01-Dec-2017 15:34 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Operator, Other fatalities, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative] |
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