- Date
- May 9, 1991, 11:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Clearwater, FL
- Injuries
- 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N55653Piper PA-32-300
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 25, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910509014919A
- Case key
- 32864
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
Inadequate annual inspection of the airplane by maintenance personnel who failed to detect a deteriorated oil line. This resulted in oil exhaustion causing the total loss of engine power due to failure of one of the connecting rods. Also inadvertent stall/mush by the pilot.
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 plt stated the eng was sluggish during the takeoff for the third touch and go landing, followed by a total loss of oil pressure. With insufficient rwy remaining to land he continued to climb & advised the tower of the eng malfunction. He was cleared to land on any rwy but the eng then quit. He initiated a lt turn to return to the arpt. While descending he attempted to correct the nose & lt wing low attitude before impact with the water but stated that the flt controls were unresponsive. The acft was recovered & the eng removed for exam. Exam of the eng revealed a hole in the top of the crankcase near the no. 4 cylinder. The no. 4 cylinder connecting rod was not attached to the crankshaft. The fire sleeves protecting the three oil lines attached to the lt & rt oil coolers were oil soaked. During removal of the fire sleeves, one line broke due to deterioration. The two other lines were examined & found to be deteriorated. The data tags attached to each line indicated that they were manufactured in April 1972.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N55653
- Reported as
- Piper PA-32-300
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 32-7340131
- Airframe hours
- 3,415
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-540-K1A5, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Tropicair Pilot'S Club
- Registered owner
- White, Rodney D.
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 9, 1990 · 77 hours before
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
- 33
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 287 total · 40 in this make and model · 243 as pilot in command · 30 in the last 90 days · 10 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 110° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 79 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- PIE, 1 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.
Other investigations on N55653 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.