Accident Piper PA-32-300 Cherokee Six N3941X,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 191029
 
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Date:Monday 31 October 2016
Time:15:02
Type:Silhouette image of generic PA32 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Piper PA-32-300 Cherokee Six
Owner/operator:Private
Registration: N3941X
MSN: 32-7640001
Year of manufacture:1975
Total airframe hrs:3968 hours
Engine model:Lycoming IO-540-K1A5D
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage: Substantial
Category:Accident
Location:Polk County, SW Winter Haven, FL -   United States of America
Phase: Landing
Nature:Private
Departure airport:Orlando, FL (SFB)
Destination airport:Bartow, FL (BOW)
Investigating agency: NTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
While approaching the airport, the private pilot reduced engine power in preparation for landing. At that time, the airplane began to vibrate and shake. The engine then lost total power, while the propeller continued to windmill. He attempted to restart the engine using the emergency checklist procedures but was unsuccessful. He determined that he would not be able to reach the runway and maneuvered toward a nearby pasture for an emergency landing. During the landing rollout, the airplane struck a fence, damaging the left wheel hydraulic brake line, which caused a loss of brake pressure. When the pilot applied the brakes, he lost directional control, and the nose landing gear collapsed.
Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the firewall was damaged and the fuselage skin aft of the firewall was wrinkled. An unmeasured amount of fuel was present in all four fuel tanks, and fuel was present at the fuel injector nozzles; thus, adequate fuel was onboard for the flight. Oil was present in the crankcase, and cylinder compression was attained on all cylinders when the propeller was rotated by hand. While rotating the engine, a grinding/crunching noise occurred once but was not repeatable. A subsequent partial teardown examination of the engine did not reveal any evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. Thus, the reason for the total loss of engine power could not be determined.


Probable Cause: A total loss of engine power during approach for reasons that could not be determined because engine examinations did not reveal any evidence of mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation.

Accident investigation:
cover
  
Investigating agency: NTSB
Report number: ERA17LA034
Status: Investigation completed
Duration: 2 years and 8 months
Download report: Final report

Sources:

NTSB

FAA register: http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N3941X

Location

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
01-Nov-2016 04:31 Geno Added
01-Nov-2016 15:46 Geno Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Phase, Source]
15-Jul-2019 18:06 ASN Update Bot Updated [Time, Cn, Nature, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Damage, Narrative, Accident report, ]

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