CHI95LA196 · Piper PA-32R
Piper PA-32R · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Iowa City Municipal Airport (IOW) to M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport (PLK)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI95LA196
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Piper PA-32R
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-32
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N39620
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Iowa City Municipal Airport (IOW), Iowa City, IATo M. Graham Clark Downtown Airport (PLK), POINT LOOKOUT, MO
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- En route · cruise
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Engine compartment › Fire
- Fluid, oil › Leak
- Ignition system, magneto › Fatigue
- Ignition system, magneto › Loose part/bolt/nut/clamp/etc
- Ignition system, magneto › Separation
- Maintenance › Inadequate
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Columbia, MO, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT REPORTED THAT HE HEARD A MUFFLED EXPLOSION FROM THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT. THE ENGINE QUIT AND FLAMES STARTED COMING OUT OF THE ENGINE COWLING. THE CABIN BEGAN FILLING WITH SMOKE, AND OIL BEGAN SPEWING ONTO THE WINDSCREEN. THE PILOT SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTED PROCEDURES FOR IN-FLIGHT FIRE AND SMOKE IN THE COCKPIT. HE THEN MADE AN EMERGENCY LANDING IN A FIELD. HOWEVER, BEFORE LANDING, THE PILOT DELAYED GEAR EXTENSION, SO THAT HE COULD REMAIN CLEAR OF OBSTRUCTIONS AND REACH A SUITABLE LANDING AREA. THE GEAR DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO BE FULLY EXTENDED, AND IT COLLAPSED ON TOUCHDOWN. AN EXAMINATION OF THE AIRPLANE REVEALED THAT THE DUAL MAGNETO HAD SEPARATED FROM THE ENGINE. THE BOTTOM MAGNETO HOLD DOWN CLIP WAS FOUND IN THE COWLING, BUT NEITHER THE LOCKWASHER OR NUT WERE RECOVERED. AN EXAMINATION OF THE BOTTOM SURFACE OF THE MAGNETO HOUSING REVEALED TWO LONGITUDINAL MARKINGS (CHIPPED PAINT). THE BOTTOM CLIP HAD A SPACING WHICH MATCHED THE CHIPPED PAINT ON THE MAGNETO HOUSING, AS IF THE CLIP HAD MOVED LONGITUDINALLY RELATIVE TO THE HOUSING. AN EXAMINATION OF THE TOP MAGNETO HOUSING FLANGE, WHICH HAD SEPARATED FROM THE MAGNETO, REVEALED FRACTURE SURFACE MARKINGS INDICATIVE OF FATIGUE CRACKING BEFORE THE ONSET OF OVERSTRESS SEPARATION.
Probable cause
A LOOSE (OR MISSING) NUT AND CLIP FOR THE BOTTOM MAGNETO STUD, DUE TO INADEQUATE MAINTENANCE, AND FATIGUE FAILURE OF THE MAGNETO HOUSING FLANGE, WHICH RESTULTED IN AN OIL LEAK, ENGINE COMPARTMENT FIRE, AND A FORCED LANDING. A FACTOR RELATING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS: THE NECESSITY FOR THE PILOT TO DELAY EXTENDING THE LANDING GEAR, SO THAT THE AIRPLANE WOULD CLEAR OBSTRUCTIONS AND REACH A FAVORABLE LANDING AREA.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI95LA196
- Event ID
- 20001207X03676
- Case number
- CHI95LA196
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 8512490e7252ec517f3fbb0790cc1371c0cd68ad180f174672f20b642ffc5a0a; retrieved 2026-09-22T23:46:30.072Z.