Piper PA-24-250 N7171P

Summary

On 14 May 2012 at about 18:30 local time, a Piper PA-24-250 registered N7171P was involved in an accident near Shawnee, Oklahoma, 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 May 2012 at 18:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Shawnee, Oklahoma, United States

Coordinates

35.3572, -96.9433

Aircraft

Piper PA-24-250

Registration

N7171P

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Ferry

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Oklahoma City → Shawnee

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN12LA299

Nobody was injured.

The improper installation of the mixture cable by maintenance personnel, which allowed the mixture cable to entangle with the landing gear during gear extension and led to the subsequent loss of engine power.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot was conducting the second leg of the airplane’s first flight after a recent engine overhaul. On final approach, the pilot lowered the landing gear handle; however, he did not receive confirmation that the landing gear was down. The pilot stated that he applied a lot of force to conduct the manual gear override but that he was not able to get the handle up. Shortly thereafter, the engine lost power. The airplane was substantially damaged during the subsequent forced landing. A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the mixture cable was bent, the cable was pulled from its last clamp prior to the carburetor mixture control, and the mixture control was pulled into the cutoff position. The routing of the mixture cable did not match assembly drawings, and several clamps used to route the mixture cable were missing. A grease fitting on the over-center link for the nose landing gear was in line with the bend in the mixture cable. Most likely, the landing gear center link became entangled in the mixture control cable, which prevented the nose landing gear from extending. The mixture likely came to idle when the pilot used extra force to try to extend the landing gear. The mixture cable was not installed properly during the recent engine overhaul.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.