- Date
- November 25, 1992, 15:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- Crystal River, FL
- Injuries
- 2 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N157JMMason, Jack A. Velocity
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 21, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19921125047889A
- Case key
- 33199
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
Failure of an unknown individual to determine that the propeller was properly secured after removal of the propeller spinner, resulting in separation of one of the propeller blades during cruise flight. Contributing to the accident was unsuitable terrain encountered during the forced landing.
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 cruise flt, aprx 17 inches of one prop blade separated. During the emergency descent for a forced landing, the acft collided with trees then the water. Exam of the prop revealed that the fwd hub which contacts the fwd mounting flange was burned. A prop spinner was not installed. It had been removed before the plt purchased the acft aprx 9 months earlier. The prop spinner backing plate which is .125 inch thick attaches between the fwd mounting flange and the fwd hub of the prop. The correct procedure to determine if the attach bolts are the correct length is to install them through the aft mounting flange & the propeller backing plate (if installed), then screw them into the fwd mounting flange until the bolts bottom out. The width between the two flanges (if a prop spinner is not installed) should be measured, then the width of the prop hub should be measured. The width of the prop hub should be greater than the width between the flanges to allow for compression of the hub when the bolts are properly torqued.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N157JM
- Reported as
- Mason, Jack A. Velocity
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- DM099
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-360, 200 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Black, Charles K.
- Registered owner
- Black, Charles K.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 1, 1992 · 100 hours before
- Departed
- LOU · Louisville, KY
- Destination
- SRQ · Sarasota, FL
- Flight plan
- IFR
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
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 600 total · 100 in this make and model · 500 as pilot in command · 50 in the last 90 days · 20 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 82 °F, dew point 70 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- GNV, 50 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.