Douglas A4L N132AT

Summary

On 8 July 2010 at about 20:40 local time, a Douglas A4L registered N132AT, operated by Airborne Tactical Advantage Co, was involved in an accident near Fallon, Nevada, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

8 July 2010 at 20:40

Classification

Accident

Location

Fallon, Nevada, United States

Nearest airport

Fallon NAS (NFL)

Coordinates

39.4550, -118.7319

Aircraft

Douglas A4L

Registration

N132AT

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Airborne Tactical Advantage Co

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fallon → Fallon

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR10LA339

1 person had minor injuries.

A loss of engine power during takeoff due to the failure of the engine's stator and turbine. Contributing to the accident was inadequate maintenance.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the pilot, he entered a right-hand climbing turn after departure and the engine experienced a loss of thrust. The pilot reversed direction and attempted to land on the runway in the opposite direction, but the airplane was too low and slow to make it back to the runway. He elected to steer the airplane in the direction of an empty field and successfully ejected. The operator reported that their postaccident examination of the engine determined that the protective coating on the turbine blades and stators had degraded. This degradation led to the eventual failure of the stator vanes and then the turbine blades. They could not establish the exact reason for the degradation of the protective coating.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.