CHI83FA086 · Piper PA-32-300
Piper PA-32-300 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Aurora Municipal Airport (ARR) to Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field (MSP)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI83FA086
- 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-32-300
- 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
- N5818F
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Aurora Municipal Airport (ARR), Aurora, ILTo Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport / Wold–Chamberlain Field (MSP), Minneapolis, MN
- 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
- 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)
- 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
- Fuel starvation
- 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
- Fluid, fuel › Starvation
- Fuel system, fuel control › Fatigue
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Monroe, WI, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
WHILE CRUISING AT 4,000 FT MSL THE ENG QUIT. DURING A FORCED LANDING ON ROLLING FARM TERRAIN BOTH MAIN LANDING GEAR SEPARATED. THE ACFT THEN SLID THROUGH A BARBED WIRE FENCE & CAUGHT FIRE. METALLURGICAL EXAMINATION REVEALED A FATIGUE FAILURE OF THE IDLE SET SCREW THAT CONTROLS THE DIAPHRAM SETTING IN THE BENDIX FUEL INJECTION (P/N 2424273-10). THE STEMOF THE SCREW FAILED AS A RESULT OF REVERSED BENDING STRESSES CAUSED BY SIDE TO SIDE FORCES. THIS TYPE OF FAILURE COULD NOT BE EXPLAINED AS THE PRINCIPAL FORCE APPLIED TO THE ADJUSTMENT SCREW WOULD PRIMARILY BE IN A TWISTING MOTION RATHER THAN A SIDE TO SIDE APPLIED FORCE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI83FA086
- Event ID
- 20001214X41941
- Case number
- CHI83FA086
- 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: f4d80135e935c7092ea3a2c8f5d5b60cd4f2a267c023ef246f695d9d0148f954; retrieved 2026-09-18T21:02:38.177Z.