- Date
- May 23, 1992, 14:15 local (21:15 UTC)
- Place
- Ely, NV
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N3VDQuestair Venture
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 30, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920523016049A
- Case key
- 27624
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
The inadequate installation of the engine oil temperature/pressure transducer by the pilot/owner that resulted in a fatigue failure of the transducer mounting fitting in the engine oil system. The soft landing surface and the mountainous terrain in which the airplane landed were factors in the accident.
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
After assembling the home built aircraft the co-owner/pilot installed an aluminum fitting between the engine case and a heavy transducer. The fitting that attached the transducer to the engine failed after 31 hours of operations while the aircraft was in cruise flight over mountainous terrain. The failure resulted in the loss of engine oil and the engine seized. The pilot attempted to land the aircraft on a soft surface in mountainous terrain. The landing gear sank into the soft earth during the landing roll and the aircraft nosed over on its back. A metallurgical examination of the fitting disclosed that the failure resulted from fatigue. The heavy transducer should have been mounted to the engine or airframe with flexible oil lines that would endured the vibrations that are inherently associated with the reciprocating engine.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3VD
- Reported as
- Questair Venture
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 446
- Airframe hours
- 31
- Engine
- Continental IO-550G1B, 280 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- D. G. Lewis
- Registered owner
- D. G. Lewis
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Unknown · January 2, 2000
- Departed
- H10 · Portland, OR
- Destination
- SGU · St George, UT
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
- 34
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 3,700 total · 41 in this make and model · 3,700 as pilot in command · 72 in the last 90 days · 41 in the last 30 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 100° at 7 knots
- Visibility
- 55 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 7,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 72 °F, dew point 30 °F
- Observed at
- ELY, 45 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.