NYC82DA098 · Aero Commander 680F
David Frenier Aero Commander 680F · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC82DA098
- 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
Aero Commander 680F
- Aircraft type
- Aero Commander 680
- 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
- N567D
- Operator
- David Frenier
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Philadelphia, PATo Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF), Buffalo, NY
- 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
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Ignition system, magneto › Failure, total
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Prospectville, PA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT HAD PLANNED TO PURCHASE THE AIRCRAFT AND WAS FERRYING IT TO BUFFALO, NY FOR INSPECTION AND REPAIR. WHILE EN ROUTE, THE RIGHT ENGINE LOST POWER. HE FEATHERED THE RIGHT PROPELLER AND DIVERTED TO TURNER FIELD. WHEN HE LOWERED THE GEAR, HE DID NOT GET A SAFE INDICATION FOR THE LEFT MAIN. THREE CIRCUITS OF THE AIRPORT WERE MADE AND ALTITUDE WAS LOST WHILE ATTEMPTING TO GET A SAFE INDICATION. ANTICIPATING AN IMMINENT GEAR COLLAPSE HE TURNED TO LAND ON A GRASS RUNWAY, SHUT DOWN AND FEATHERED THE ENGINE, AND TURNED OFF THE ELECTRIAL POWER BEFORE TOUCHDOWN. SUBSEQUENTLY, THE LEFT GEAR LOCKED. WITH BOTH ENGINES AND THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM SHUT DOWN, HE WAS UNABLE TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL. THE PLANE ANGLED TO THE LEFT AND STRUCK A TREE AND SOME BRUSH. AN EXAMINATION REVEALED THAT TWO REDUCTION GEAR STATIONARY DRIVE PLATE BOLTS, PN 68364, HAD FAILED. THE MAGNETO DRIVE GEAR IDLER SHAFT HAD MOVED OUT OF POSITION AND GEARS TO DRIVE BOTH MAGNETO CAMS WERE NO LONGER MESHING.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC82DA098
- Event ID
- 20020917X03914
- Case number
- NYC82DA098
- 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: 35e67f13de8f476769ffc1990f5542cf755aefb5dbee0552aab7b35c144e6b47; retrieved 2026-09-24T03:14:48.176Z.