20090823049769A

This office was notified of an accident near Marianna Florida at 1500 on 23 August, 2009. A vans RV-9A crashed into trees 2.9 miles short of runway 08 at the Marianna Municipal Airport in Marianna Florida. First responders reported that a single pilot had sustained serious injuries and was airlifted to south east Alabama medical center with no feeling in his legs. The FAA arrived on scene at 0700 on 24 August 2009 and found a vans RV-9A experimental amateur built aircraft, N362TS, in a swampy area west of the airport. The airplane impacted the heavily wooded forrest canopy approximately 80 feet above the swamp, lost all forward momentum, and then fell to the ground. It settled upright, in a slightly nose down attitude, with little or no forward motion. It was sitting on its main gear and the nose/prop spinner. The fuselage had failed just aft of the passenger compartment. The prop, spinner and lower engine cowling, as well as the leading edges of the wings sustained heavy damage. Both fuel tanks ruptured during the crash and there was a strong smell of gasoline around the aircraft. Damage to the prop blades indicated the aircraft was not making power at impact. The damage to the surrounding trees indicated the aircraft was heading east, in the direction of the Marianna airport, when it first hit the forrest canopy. It turned 90 degrees before impacting the ground and came to rest facing south. There were no skid marks around the aircraft and almost all the debris was within 15 feet of the airplane. In an interview taken August 24, 2009, the pilot stated that he had taken off from tri-county airport in bonifay Florida, 23 miles west of the crash site. He was climbing through 3500 ft at 105KTS when he heard a "bang" and lost all power to the prop. He could smell oil and immediately assumed his gearbox had failed. He said "the RPM spiked but the engine was still running and he could still control the RPM with the power lever" but there was no torque getting to the prop. He immediately set up a 74KT glide speed and declared an emergency on Marianna's frequency. He continued to talk to Marianna until impact. He could see the runway and was trying to make the airport but soon realized he was going to be short. He spotted a field and lined up on it but was unable to make that either. He reported to Marianna that he was going into the trees just before impact and couldn't remember anything after that. An emergency helecopter based on the field located the crash site and directed the first responders to the scene. The NTSB inspected the gearbox and found the prop shaft gears had been completely ground off the shaft. Investigation of the aircraft log books indicated the aircraft was current on all required inspections. The private pilot had a current medical and had recently had a bi-annual flight review.a manufacturer's service bulletin requiring the upgrading of the eggenfellner gen I gearbox installed on this aircraft had not been complied with. This service bulletin required upgrading to a gen iii gearbox prior to 01/01/2008. Mr hurst indicated that he knew of this service bulletin but since he had no indication of an impending failure, decided to delay changing the gears.