ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 239153
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| Date: | Wednesday 5 August 2020 |
| Time: | 11:45 LT |
| Type: |  Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | N7213W |
| MSN: | 28-1155 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1963 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 2960 hours |
| Engine model: | Lycoming O-360-A3A |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | West of Van Buren, ME -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Presque Isle-Northern Maine Regional Airport, ME (PQI/KPQI) |
| Frenchville, ME (FVE) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
During an instructional flight while maneuvering, the student pilot moved to increase the throttle, which was followed by a pop that was felt and heard from the engine. Subsequently, the power became stuck at idle and would not produce additional power, even with several troubleshooting actions performed by the flight instructor. The flight instructor completed a forced landing in a field, where the landing gear collapsed, and the fuselage was substantially damaged.
Examination of the engine revealed that the crankshaft gear would not engage and, as a result, the engine exhibited no compression and all components to the engine's accessory gear box would not rotate. The crankshaft gear bolt was found loose about 2 to 3 threads, the lock plate holding the crankshaft gear bolt was loose, and the alignment dowel had sheared.
Further forensic review of the dowel revealed that it exhibited signatures consistent with fatigue crack propagation and overstress fractures. It is likely that this crankshaft alignment dowel failure resulted in the loss of engine crankshaft continuity and the inability of the engine to produce power when commanded.
The engine manufacturer had published a service bulletin that likely would have required replacement of the alignment dowel; however, the bulletin was only required to be completed during overhaul, after a propeller strike, or whenever the crankshaft gear was removed. There was no record in the maintenance records that the service bulletin was complied with and the most recent overhaul inspection was completed prior to the publication of the service bulletin.
Probable Cause: The failure of the crankshaft gear alignment dowel due to fatigue crack propagation and overstress, which resulted in a partial loss of engine power.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB ERA20LA277
FAA register: https://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N7213W
Location
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 05-Aug-2020 21:14 | Geno | Added |
| 26-Aug-2020 09:10 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative] |
| 26-Aug-2020 09:12 | harro | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, Source] |
| 27-Jun-2022 12:15 | ASN Update Bot | Updated [Time, Other fatalities, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category, Accident report] |
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