- Date
- January 23, 1987, 07:18 local (13:18 UTC)
- Place
- Springfield, MO
- Injuries
- 10 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N120AMEmbraer EMB-120
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Status
- Completed · report July 10, 1989
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19870123003179I
- Case key
- 34306
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
The PIC of this air midwest flt 4408 said that, while on initial climb, power (np) on the left engine decayed to 60% and would not recover. The engine was feathered by condition lever but the torque rose to 140% while returning for a landing, according to the PIC. The aircraft landed safely. A post-incident investigation disclosed that an oil leak had been traced, the day prior to the incident, to a fractured propeller control unit solenoid. That part was removed and replaced as a precautionary measure. The plastic blade retaining rings inside the propeller assy were damaged due to the engine overtorque and subsequent shutdown. A teardown of the propeller control unit (pcu) showed that the beta tube had not failed nor was it freewheeling inside the pcu. A spectrographic analysis of oil samples, drawn from four separate sections of the engine, tested satifactorily. As such, no reason could be found for the drop in engine power (np) and subsequent overtorque.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N120AM
- Reported as
- Embraer EMB-120
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 120.012
- Engine
- P&W PW115, 1,600 horsepower, turbo prop
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 135
- Registered owner
- Air Midwest, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Departed
- SGF · Springfield, MO
- Destination
- BNA · Nashville, TN
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- SGF · Springfield Regional, runway 1, 7,003 × 150 ft, concrete
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
- 49
- Certificates
- Flight engineer, Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 9,150 total · 8,850 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Dawn
- Wind
- 350° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 36 °F, dew point 19 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SGF, 8 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.