CHI83LA424 · Piper PA-31-350
The Ertl Piper PA-31-350 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Dubuque Regional Airport (DBQ)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI83LA424
- 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-31-350
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-31
- 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
- N62971
- Operator
- The Ertl
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Dubuque Regional Airport (DBQ), DUNBUQUE, IA
- 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
- Takeoff · roll/run
- 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
- Eng assembly, blower/impeller/integral supercharger › Leak
- Pilot in command › Aborted takeoff, performed
- Pilot in command › Ground loop/swerve, not corrected
- Pilot in command › Proper alignment, not maintained
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Wheeling, IL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE ACFT WENT OFF THE RWY AND COLLAPSED THE LANDING GEAR AFTER POWER LOSS DURING TAKEOFF. THREE OF THE PASSENGERS FURNISHED STATEMENTS AND 2 SEEMED TO THINK THAT THE LEFT ENGINE QUIT. THE ACFT TURNED TO THE RIGHT BUT THE PILOT DID NOTKNOW WHICH ENGINE QUIT. AFTER THE ACCIDENT THE LEFT PROPELLER BLADES WERE IN FEATHER BUT ALL THE STOPS WERE BROKEN. THE RIGHT PROP BLADES WERE BENT BUT IN HIGH PITCH. DURING A LATER TEST RUN THE RIGHT ENGINE PRODUCED 48 INCHES OF MANIFOLD PRESSURE BUT THE LEFT PRODUCED ONLY 40 INCHES. THE RIGHT ENGINE HAD AN OIL LEAK DRIPPING ONTO THE TURBO-CHARGER. THE PUSH ROD COVERS WERE COVERED WITH A SILICONE SEALANT.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI83LA424
- Event ID
- 20001214X44477
- Case number
- CHI83LA424
- 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 1983-09-12.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 83d4c5c7953ae4aa5c421aee7bd75406c35c53ba2806150d1f77707f2d3a6331; retrieved 2026-09-23T21:22:50.756Z.