- Date
- July 4, 1991, 09:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Yellowstonepark, WY
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N44AZJerrell RV-4
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 25, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910704025719A
- Case key
- 41469
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
A collapsed induction air duct. Factors include inadequate design by the manufacturer/builder, and a misjudged rate of descent 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 pilot of the RV-4 experimental aircraft experienced a partial power loss, and received fatal injuries when the aircraft impacted the water, during an attempted emergency landing, near the shoreline of a lake. Later inspection of the engine found that the scat tubing which ran from the air intake filter to the fuel injector body, was routed in a manner that caused the internal wire support to be displaced, allowing the tubing walls to collapse. This condition reduced the induction airflow to the engine.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N44AZ
- Reported as
- Jerrell RV-4
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- 1
- Engine
- Lycoming IO-320-E3D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Donald A. Jerrell
- Registered owner
- Donald A. Jerrell
- Departed
- WYS · Westyellowstone, WY
- Destination
- CPR · Casper, WY
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
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 450 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
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 N44AZ · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.