Waco YMF-5 N369DP

Summary

On 8 November 1997 at about 19:12 local time, a Waco YMF-5 registered N369DP was involved in an accident near Sedona, Arizona, United States. 3 people were on board and one was seriously injured, 2 had minor injuries. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

8 November 1997 at 19:12

Classification

Accident

Location

Sedona, Arizona, United States

Coordinates

34.9409, -111.9392

Aircraft

Waco YMF-5

Registration

N369DP

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Business

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX98LA033

1 person was seriously injured.

The failure and separation of the propeller for undetermined reasons.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that during the preflight inspection, he examined the propeller while pulling the engine through each cylinder and found no discrepancies. The aircraft was about 7 minutes into a 15-minute flight when he saw a 'spark or flash' at the 11 o'clock position on the nose, followed quickly by the complete separation of the propeller. He turned the aircraft back toward the airport but had insufficient altitude and landed in a hilly area of a canyon. A postcrash fire began and consumed the aircraft aft of the firewall. The aircraft was examined on site and following recovery of the wreckage. An unsuccessful search was made for the wooden propeller. The metal propeller hub remained attached to the engine crankshaft with fragments of the wood center section intertwined in the bolts. The wood remains were insufficient to determine either the model or serial number of the propeller, or the condition of the boltholes. Both the engine crankshaft splines and propeller hub splines were unremarkable. The remaining pieces of wood from the hub were submitted for laboratory evaluation. The examining laboratories reported that there was insufficient evidence available from the small fragments submitted to identify an initiating event in the propeller or the failure cause of the wood hub.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.