ATL03LA109

The pilot was in cruise flight when the airplane experienced a loss of engine power. An engine restart was unsuccessful and a forced landing was made to an open field which ran up slope. Examination of the airplane revealed the throttle cable had broken and the left main landing gear had separated. Further examination of the throttle cable by the NTSB Materials Laboratory revealed the cable had failed in fatigue.

On July 16, 2003, at 1945 central daylight time, a Keuthan, Buccaneer II, N9110T, registered to Keuthan Aviation Inc., operating as a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, had an in flight loss of engine power in cruise flight near Pell City, Alabama. The pilot made a forced landing and collided with the ground. The left main landing gear separated at the keel beam attach point. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane sustained substantial damage, and the commercial pilot and one passenger reported no injuries. The flight originated from St. Clair County Airport, Pell City, Alabama, on July 16, 2003, at 1900.

The pilot stated he departed the airport and climbed to 1,500 feet. He was about 2 ½ miles southwest of the airport when the airplane lost engine power. He immediately checked the magnetos to see if both magnetos were in the "on" position. He suspected there was no fuel going to the engine, and squeezed the pump going to the fuel line and fuel was visible in the fuel line. He primed the engine and attempted an engine restart. The engine did not start, and he made a forced landing to an open field, which ran up slope. A post accident examination of the airplane revealed the throttle cable was broken. Review of the airplane logbooks revealed the throttle cable had 235.8 total hours.

The throttle cable was removed from the airplane and forwarded to the NTSB laboratory for examination. Examination of the cable revealed a general bending curvature near the fracture surface and heavy wear was present around 180 degrees of the circumference of the cable within 0.1 inches of the fracture surface. The mating surface of the throttle cable was not recovered. Nearly all strands in the cable had fracture surfaces that were in flat plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, features consistent with brittle fracture mechanism such as fatigue. The fracture surfaces were viewed at high magnification using scanning electron microscopy and they were smooth and consistent with fatigue.

The throttle cable was released to a representative for the registered owner on September 11, 2003.