Piper PA-28-140 N3922K

Summary

On 4 June 2010 at about 16:00 local time, a Piper PA-28-140 registered N3922K, operated by Thomas Q. Ostrander, was involved in an accident near Richfield, Utah, 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

4 June 2010 at 16:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Richfield, Utah, United States

Nearest airport

Richfield Municipal (RIF)

Coordinates

38.7364, -112.0989

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-140

Registration

N3922K

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Thomas Q. Ostrander

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Richfield → Richfield

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR10LA302

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s decision to operate the unairworthy airplane with suspected performance deficiencies in a high density altitude and the subsequent partial loss of engine power due to low compression.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

Prior to the flight the pilot asked a local airframe and powerplant mechanic to look over the airplane, as it had been sitting a couple of weeks and he suspected that it was not operating properly. The mechanic told the pilot to fly it around the airport traffic pattern and then bring it back so he could do a compression check on the engine; the mechanic was unaware that the airplane was out of its annual inspection. The pilot conducted a preflight inspection of the airplane, started the engine, and prior to takeoff ran the engine up, noting that the magnetos were within tolerances. The pilot said that after taking off and initially climbing without incident, the engine began to lose rpms but was still running smoothly. The pilot stated that he then pushed the mixture in all the way, and soon thereafter the engine rpms were down to about 1,700 and the airplane was losing altitude. The pilot elected to make an emergency landing in a field. During the emergency landing the airplane sustained substantial damage to its left wing after impacting a berm. The airplane subsequently slid between 60 feet to 75 feet before coming to rest in an upright position. A postaccident examination of the engine revealed low compression on the No. 1 and No. 4 opposing cylinders, which most likely resulted in the partial loss of engine power. Because the worst compression readings were on cylinders on opposite sides of the engine, it may have run fairly smoothly but at a reduced power output. Additionally, the pilot’s decision to position the mixture to full rich, coupled with a density altitude of almost 10,000 feet, could have contributed to the partial loss of power. While a review of a Federal Aviation Administration’s Carburetor Icing Probability Chart revealed "Icing - glide power" for the reported temperature and dew point conditions, the investigation could not definitively identify carburetor ice as the reason for the power loss.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.