- Date
- June 30, 1984, 10:16 local (15:16 UTC)
- Place
- Niceville, FL
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N32538Piper PA-32-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19840630070319A
- Case key
- 31001
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
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
The acft crashed into trees short of the rwy after the engine quit on final approach. The engine failed from internal failure of the crankshaft gear retention system. A teardown revealed that the crankshaft gear bolt had backed out & the bolt head was noted to have contacted the oil pump drive tank. Also, there was evidence that foreign material had passed thru the gear sys. The source of the material was from severely spalled tappets. The crankshaft gear dowel pin was sheared. Several camshaft lobes were worn with corresponding tappet face spalling. The initial source of the failure mode was not determined.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N32538
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 327540047
- Airframe hours
- 2,093
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K145, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- James M. Sloan
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 16, 1983 · 198 hours before
- Departed
- Tyndall Afb, FL
- Flight plan
- VFR
- Airport
- FL17 · Ruckel, runway 36, 3,300 × 75 ft, grass/turf
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
- 43
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 5,390 total · 160 in this make and model · 4,938 as pilot in command · 98 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 310° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 81 °F, dew point 66 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- VPS, 5 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.