Martinaire Piper PA-32-260 accident
Piper PA-32-260 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) on approach
From Dallas Love Field (DAL) to an unrecorded destination
Event
- NTSB case
- FTW90LA102
- 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
- Charter & commuter
- 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-32-260
- 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
- N7732J
- Operator
- Martinaire
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Dallas Love Field (DAL), Dallas, TXTo not recorded
- 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 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- 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
- Approach · IFR final approach
- 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)
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- 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
- Accessory drive assembly, drive gear › Not secured
- Ignition system, magneto › Disconnected
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, overhaul, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WHILE ON FINAL, THE ENGINE QUIT WITHOUT WARNING AND THE PILOT WAS FORCED TO EXECUTE A FORCED LANDING INTO A HEAVILY WOODED BIRD SANCTUARY. EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THAT THE CRANKSHAFT GEAR ATTACHMENT BOLT WAS LOOSE WITH 0.196 INCHES OF PLAY AND THE DOWEL PIN WAS SHEARED. GEAR INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS CALLED FOR THE GEAR TO BE SEATED WITH A DRIFT AND HAMMER WITH NO MORE THAN 0.001 INCHES OF CLEARANCE. OTHERWISE, THE DOWEL PIN WOULD BE OFFSET AND WORK. BOTH THE BOLT AND THE DOWEL PIN SHOWED EVIDENCE OF WORKING. SHEARING OF THE CRANKSHAFT DOWEL PIN WOULD HAVE RELEASED THE GEAR TO ROTATE ABOUT THE BOLT, THUS DISCONNECTING THE GEAR AND THE IDLER GEARS WHICH TRANSMITTED TORQUE TO THE MAGNETOS. SECONDARY DAMAGE WAS OBSERVED IN THE LEFT MAGNETO. MAINTENANCE RECORDS INDICATED THAT THE ENGINE HAD BEEN OVERHAULED 88.7 HOURS PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT.
Probable cause
AN ENGINE FAILURE DUE TO A DISCONNECT IN THE MAGNETO DRIVE TRAIN CAUSED BY THE CRANKSHAFT GEAR NOT BEING PROPERLY INSTALLED AND SECURED DURING A RECENT ENGINE OVERHAUL.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record FTW90LA102
- Event ID
- 20001212X22930
- Case number
- FTW90LA102
- 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: 8c45a90d5522bd6330fb00b513dc599649d79ce2dd8eafbf2b49d0913c900d26; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:02:53.196Z.