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ATL89LA178 · Piper PA-32RT-300T PA-32RT-30

11 Jul 1989 · Columbus, OH, United States

Ferguson Lee Piper PA-32RT-300T PA-32RT-30 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route

From John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH) to Virgil I Grissom Municipal Airport (BFR)

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Event

NTSB case
ATL89LA178
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
N2153K
Operator
Ferguson Lee
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH), Columbus, OHTo Virgil I Grissom Municipal Airport (BFR), Bedford, IN
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
Partial 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 assembly, other › Chafed
  • Fluid, oil › Leak
  • Fluid, oil › Starvation
  • Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, installation, improper
  • Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, service bulletin/letter, not followed
  • Pilot in command › Visual lookout, restricted
  • Reduction gear assembly, accessory drive shaft › Not secured
  • Window, flight compartment window/windshield › Dirty(foggy)

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE ENGINE DEVELOPED A MASSIVE OIL LEAK DURING CRUISE & THE ENGINE LOST POWER. THE PLT MADE A FORCED LDG AT THE NEAREST ARPT. THE PLT WAS UNABLE TO CLEARLY SEE THE RWY DUE TO OIL COVERING THE WINDSHIELD, AND MADE A HARD LDG AS A RESULT. THE LDG GEAR COLLAPSED DURING THE LDG. POST-ACCIDENT EXAM OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THAT AN IMPROPER LENGTH SET-SCREW HAD BEEN INSTALLED TO RETAIN THE PROP GOVERNOR IDLER-GEAR SHAFT IN PLACE; THE SCREW WAS TOO SHORT, WHICH PREVENTED THE PROPER USE OF STAKING TO SECURE THE SCREW IN PLACE AGAINST THE SHAFT. THE SCREW BACKED OFF AND ALLOWED THE NORMALLY-STATIONARY SHAFT TO ROTATE. THE SHAFT CUT THROUGH AN ACCESS PLUG ON THE FRONT OF THE ENGINE, WHICH ALLOWED OIL TO DRAIN OVERBOARD. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE SCREW WAS MOST LIKELY INSTALLED WHEN THE IDLER GEARS WERE REPLACED DURING A SUDDEN-STOPPAGE INSPECTION. LYCOMING SERVICE INSTRUCTION 1343 DESCRIBES HOW THE LENGTH OF THE SET SCREW SHOULD BE DETERMINED, AND HOW THE SCREW SHOULD BE INSTALLED.

Probable cause

THE IMPROPER INSTALLATION OF THE PROPELLER GOVERNOR IDLER-GEAR SHAFT RETAINING SET-SCREW, WHICH LED TO AN ENGINE OIL LEAK AND RESULTED IN A LOSS OF ENGINE POWER; AND THE REDUCTION OF THE PILOT'S ABILITY TO SEE OUTSIDE THE AIRPLANE DUE TO OIL ON THE WINDSHIELD.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL89LA178
Event ID
20001213X28722
Case number
ATL89LA178
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: local date, investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date; the NTSB stores the UTC date 1989-07-12.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 8dfdd9fc973560569176b9944d993139eb8f0ba76d69b2b3fa4d25164368fa2c; retrieved 2026-09-23T07:24:18.290Z.