LAX92LA377 · Piper PA-32RT-300T PA-32RT-30
Piper PA-32RT-300T PA-32RT-30 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Hollywood Burbank/Bob Hope Airport (BUR) to Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)
Event
- NTSB case
- LAX92LA377
- 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-32RT-300T PA-32RT-30
- 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
- N20926
- Operator
- Reuling-Hardy, Nancy · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Hollywood Burbank/Bob Hope Airport (BUR), Burbank, CATo Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC), Salt Lake City, UT
- 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Unknown › Throttle/power control, improper use of
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
A PIPER 32RT 300T, LANDED HARD ON DIRT STRIP AFTER EXPERIENCING A TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. THE PILOT HEARD A LOUD BANG WHILE CRUISING AT 13,500 MSL. OIL FROM THE ENGINE OBSCURED THE PILOT'S VISION THROUGH THE WINDSHIELD. THE PILOT SECURED THE ENGINE AND SELECTED A DIRT STRIP NEAR AN AUTOMOBILE SALVAGE YARD AS A FORCED LANDING AREA. DURING THE LANDING THE AIRPLANE STRUCK AN AUTOMOBILE. SAFETY BOARD INVESTIGATORS FOUND A HOLE IN THE ENGINE CRANKCASE IN THE VICINITY OF THE NUMBER 1 AND NUMBER 2 CYLINDERS DURING THE PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION. DISASSEMBLY OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THE NUMBERS 1 AND 2 CONNECTING RODS WERE BROKEN AND THE NUMBER 1 CONNECTING ROD CONTAINED A GALLED SPOT ON ITS CONNECTING ROD BEARING SURFACE. SUBSEQUENT EXAMINATION OF THE FIVE REMAINING CONNECTING RODS REVEALED EVIDENCE OF GALLING BETWEEN THE CONNECTING ROD BEARING FACE AND ROD BEARING. ACCORDING TO THE ENGINE MANUFACTURER, GALLING BETWEEN THE CONNECTING ROD BEARING FACE AND ROD BEARING IS CAUSED BY PERIODS OF HIGH LOADING DUE TO OVERSPEED OR EXCESSIVE MANIFOLD PRESSURE. ABOUT 15 DAYS OR 6 FLIGHT HOURS, THE TURBOCHARGER WASTEGATE WAS ADJUSTED BY MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL. THE PILOT INDICATED THAT THERE WERE NO UNUSUAL INSTRUMENT INDICATIONS BEFORE THE ENGINE FAILURE.
Probable cause
THE UNKNOWN PILOTS IMPROPER USE OF THE THROTTLES WHICH RESULTED IN THE OVERBOOSTING OF THE ENGINE. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL IMPROPER MAINTENANCE IN ADJUSTING THE TURBOCHARGER WASTEGATE AND THE OIL LEAKING FROM THE ENGINE AFTER THE CATASTROPHIC FAILURE WHICH RESTRICTED THE PILOT'S VISUAL OUTLOOK.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record LAX92LA377
- Event ID
- 20001211X15715
- Case number
- LAX92LA377
- 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: c279e809360b8974ec09e07f2f38b4ad349c22ca73f8681e6d8ad2f608931d92; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:08:17.991Z.