- Date
- April 2, 1982, 19:15 local (Apr 3, 1982, 00:15 UTC)
- Place
- Tallahassee, FL
- Injuries
- 3 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N41045Piper PA-31-350
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 2, 1983
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19820402045799I
- Case key
- 72787
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
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
While cruising at 8000 feet, the right alternator light came on and the pilot accomplished the required procedures for an alternator failure. Shortly thereafter, he noticed an area of discoloration on the inboard nacelle of the right engine and saw flames inside the nacelle. The pilot secured the engine, declared an emergency and made a single engine landing at Tallahassee, FL. Examination of the engine revealed a broken turbocharger exhaust clamp which allowed the exhaust tube to separate from the turbo. High temperature exhaust gases then started the fire which disabled the alternator wiring. Metallurgical examination of this clamp and several others that had failed indicated that the failures were due to high temperature embrittlement. The lack of high temperature ductility was attributed to improper heat treatment when the clamps were manufactured.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N41045
- Reported as
- Piper PA-31-350
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 31-8252020
- Airframe hours
- 63
- Engine
- Lycoming TIO-540-J2BD, 350 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Fire
- In-Flight
- Flight
- Executive/Corporate · Part 91
- Operator
- Moore Data Systems, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Moore Data Systems, Inc.
- Departed
- SRQ · Sarasota, FL
- Destination
- BTR · Baton Rouge, LA
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- TLH · Tallahassee Municipal
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
- 40
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 1,584 total · 83 in this make and model · 1,405 as pilot in command · 156 in the last 90 days · 3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.
Other investigations on N41045 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.