Yakovlev YAK55M N55YA

Summary

On 14 October 2003 at about 20:40 local time, a Yakovlev YAK55M registered N55YA, operated by Peter K. Herzig, was involved in an accident near Troy, Alabama, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

14 October 2003 at 20:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Troy, Alabama, United States

Coordinates

31.8639, -88.0139

Aircraft

Yakovlev YAK55M

Registration

N55YA

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Peter K. Herzig

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Tallahassee → Montgomery

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ATL04LA029

Nobody was injured.

A loss of engine power due to a fractured connecting rod for undetermined reasons.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot stated he was at 3,000 feet in cruise flight, when he felt an instantaneous onset of a severe vibration. He reduced power and looked at the instrument panel. He did not observe an illumination of the engine chip detector light. He increased power to see what manifold pressure that he could maintain. The airplane would not maintain cruise flight. He observed a field to his front and initiated a forced landing to the field. He completed an engine shut down and started slipping the airplane to the harvested cornfield. The airplane touched down, rolled about 200 feet, and collided with a berm. Examination of the airplane revealed the propeller would continue to turn without the engine running. The propeller assembly was disassembled and the propeller shaft was fractured. Disassembly of the engine revealed all 9 connecting rods were fractured. The propeller shaft and connecting rods were examined by the NTSB Materials Laboratory. Post separation damage of the connecting rods had totally obliterated the fracture surfaces of the connecting rods making the determination of the failure modes impossible.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.