- Date
- February 3, 1990, 08:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- Provo, UT
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N21492Piper PA-32RT-300T
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 16, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900203038989A
- Case key
- 17890
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
Improper installation by maintenance personnel and fatigue failure and leakage of the left intermediate exhaust pipe, which resulted in an in-flight fire in the engine compartment. Contributing factors were: inadequate service bulletin provided by the manufacturer and insufficient standards provided by the (FAA) airworthiness directive.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
During flt, the plt noted a drop in manifold pressure & decided to make a precautionary landing. While on a base leg to land, heavy smoke & fumes filled the cabin & required the plt to look out the side vent window to complete the landing. After the aircraft stopped on the runway, a fire in the engine compartment was extinguished. An exam revealed that the left intermediate exhaust pipe (Lycoming part no: LW-15811) had partially separated at the flange. The engine crossover exhaust assembly had been modified in accordance with AD 89-12-04 & Textron Lycoming service bulletin #484, which were intended to prevent this kind of failure/separation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N21492
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32RT-300T (PA-32RT-30)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32R-7887215
- Airframe hours
- 2,145
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-S1AD, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Fire
- In-Flight
- Flight
- Positioning · Part 91
- Operator
- Alpine Aviation Inc.
- Registered owner
- Alpine Aviation, Inc
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- AAIP · December 8, 1989 · 36 hours before
- Departed
- SLC · Salt Lake City, UT
- Destination
- CNY · Moab, UT
- Airport
- PVU · Provo, runway 13, 7,096 × 150 ft, asphalt
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 60
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 1,682 total · 24 in this make and model · 1,456 as pilot in command · 9 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.