Ballhagen/Shyrock Q-2 N12QJ

Summary

On 2 September 2005 at about 02:30 local time, a Ballhagen/Shyrock Q-2 registered N12QJ was involved in an accident near Kalispell, Montana, 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

2 September 2005 at 02:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Kalispell, Montana, United States

Nearest airport

Flathead Sky Ranch (MT95)

Coordinates

48.1283, -114.3486

Aircraft

Ballhagen/Shyrock Q-2

Registration

N12QJ

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Kalispell → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA05LA189

Nobody was injured.

The pilot/owner's improper setting of the engine's valve clearance, leading to the failure of the exhaust valves to fully close and a total loss of power while on a VFR downwind, and the pilot/owner's failure to maintain sufficient airspeed as he tried to extend his power-off glide to the approach end of the runway.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Just prior to the flight, the pilot, who was five hours into a ten hour experimental aircraft flight test regimen, readjusted the valve lash in the Subaru engine that powered the subject aircraft. At the beginning of the flight, he took off and climbed to about 1,000 feet above ground level (agl). After he rolled out on downwind, his ground crew contacted him on the aircraft radio to advise him that the aircraft's engine appeared to have been missing and running rough during the takeoff and initial climbout. About the time that the pilot received the radio transmission, the aircraft's engine quit producing power, and he decided to continue on around the pattern in order to execute a forced landing on the runway from which he had departed. As he turned from base to final, the pilot realized that he might not be able to stretch the glide to the end of the runway, but he elected to attempt to do so. When the aircraft descended to about 25 feet agl, its airspeed slowed to the point where it stall/mushed into the terrain about one-quarter of a mile off the end of the runway. In a post accident inspection, it was determined that the valve clearance in the engine had been set with a gap so small that when the internal engine temperature began to increase the exhaust valves in each cylinder did not completely close. Without the closure of the valves, sufficient compression was not created in the cylinders, and the engine stopped producing power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.