ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 284062
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| Date: | Thursday 8 November 2007 |
| Time: | 19:37 LT |
| Type: |  Beechcraft A36 |
| Owner/operator: | Fin Plan Air Service LLC |
| Registration: | N3627B |
| MSN: | E1707 |
| Total airframe hrs: | 4451 hours |
| Engine model: | Teledyne Continental IO-550-B43 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Jean, Nevada -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Unknown |
| Nature: | Private |
| Departure airport: | Las Vegas-Harry Reid International Airport, NV (LAS/KLAS) |
| Phoenix-Deer Valley Airport, AZ (DVT/KDVT) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
The airplane lost engine power while in cruise flight on a dark night. The pilot had been in contact with the local area Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility and reported the situation to the controller. The pilot indicated that he was in-between airports and did not want to risk a turn back to the departure airport due to the dark night and mountainous terrain conditions. After reporting the power loss, the pilot lost radio contact with the controller and decided to attempt a landing on the desert floor. The pilot landed the airplane gear up and struck desert shrubbery, which caused structural damage to the airplane. The pilot stated that the engine sounded as if it had lost a cylinder or a valve and it was running "weakly." A review of the airplane's logbooks revealed that the airplane had flown 14 hours since the last 100-hour/annual inspections. The factory-remanufactured engine had been installed on June 15, 2001, and had a total time of 717 hours. An engine teardown was performed and investigators noted that several camshaft gear teeth were missing, some of which were found in the oil sump. A metallurgical examination of the camshaft gear and teeth revealed signatures consistent with normal wear. Many of the surfaces on the camshaft gear had been damaged due to continued operation after the teeth separation. A fracture surface at the site of a missing tooth showed evidence of fatigue initiating at the surface. The metallurgist noted surface marks at the root on both sides of each tooth. Hardness was tested between the gear teeth on both parts and was found to meet component specifications based on the R30N scale.
Probable Cause: The loss of engine power as a result of a fatigue failure of the camshaft gear teeth. Contributing to the accident were the dark night lighting conditions and the rough, uneven terrain the airplane encountered during the forced landing.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
NTSB LAX08LA027
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 30-Sep-2022 07:06 | ASN Update Bot | Added |
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