Grooms TITAN TORNADO N61246

Summary

On 20 August 2000 at about 13:23 local time, a Grooms TITAN TORNADO registered N61246 was involved in an accident near Libertytown, Maryland, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

20 August 2000 at 13:23

Classification

Accident

Location

Libertytown, Maryland, United States

Nearest airport

Harrison Field (NONE)

Coordinates

39.4792, -77.2503

Aircraft

Grooms TITAN TORNADO

Registration

N61246

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → New Market

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC00LA233

1 person was seriously injured.

An engine seizure due to improper reconditioning of piston/cylinder after a previous seizure. A factor was the unsuitable terrain, to which, the forced landing was made.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

A day earlier, while maneuvering, the airplane's engine failed, which resulted in a forced landing to a field. The airplane was trucked back to the originating airfield, and the pilot spent the rest of the afternoon trying to troubleshoot the problem. He replaced the fuel filter, pulled and checked the spark plugs, and hand-turned the engine numerous times. On the day of the accident, the pilot refueled the airplane, and took off on a test flight. Just after takeoff, the engine failed again. The pilot immediately lowered the nose of the airplane to gain airspeed. He then looked for a field, but could only see trees. The last thing he remembered, was making a turn, for about 160 degrees. Post-accident engine examination revealed piston and cylinder wall scrapings, consistent with a 'cold seizure', resulting from a thermal imbalance. Further examination revealed signs of overlapping seizure damage, consistent with the engine having experienced another seizure, prior to the accident flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.