SEA82AA155 · Piper PA-32-300
Packwood Aviation Piper PA-32-300 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Packwood Airport (55S) to Packwood Airport (55S)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA82AA155
- 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
- 2 · 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-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
- N48915
- Operator
- Packwood Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Packwood Airport (55S), PACKWOOD, WATo Packwood Airport (55S), PACKWOOD, WA
- 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)
- 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
- Stall
- 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
- Engine assembly, cylinder › Improper
- Engine assembly, cylinder › Loose
- Engine assembly, cylinder › Separation
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, overhaul, improper
- Pilot in command › Airspeed, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Descent, misjudged
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
WHILE ON A SIGHTSEEING FLT IN THE MT.ST.HELENS NATIONAL VOLCANIC MONUMENT AREA THE ACFT CRASHED ON THE MUD FLATS OF THE NORTH FORK OF THE TOUTLE RIVER IN A RELATIVELY FLAT & OPEN AREA. THERE WERE INDICATIONS OF A MASSIVE OIL LEAK FROM THE ENG AREA IN FLIGHT. ENG EXAMINATION REVEALED A DEMOUNTED NO.3 CYLINDER. HOLD DOWN BOLTS WERE MISSING FROM ONE 1/2 INCH STUD & ONE 1/2 INCH THROUGHBOLT, & FROM TWO 3/8 INCH STUDS. THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF TENSILE OVERLOADING OR STRIPPING. ONE HOLD DOWN NUT OF EACH SIZE WAS LOCATED UNATTACHED & CAPTURED IN THE EXTERIOR ENG BAFFLING. THE NO. 3 CONROD CAP WAS MISSING. THE ENG HAD ACCRUED 446 HRS SINCE OVERHAUL & 24 HRS SINCE LAST INSPECTION. THE WRECKAGE WAS FOUND NEAR A LEVEL STRAIGHT ROAD FREE OF SHOULDER OBSTRUCTIONS. A SURVIVING PAX STATED A FORCED LANDING ON A ROAD WOULD BE MADE. A STEEP TURN WAS MADE OVER THE ROAD & THE ACFT "FELL." THE OWNER'S MANUAL STATES THE PLT SHOULD BE AT 1000FT AGL AT THE DOWNWINDPOSITION FOR A NORMAL APPROACH TO A POWER-OFF LANDING. THE STALL WARNING SYSTEM WAS REPORTED INOPERATIVE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA82AA155
- Event ID
- 20020917X05103
- Case number
- SEA82AA155
- 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 1982-09-06.
- API snapshot SHA-256: ce3b25d814748bcf0b1a4fd07c2f837c1ade556752042180b837ac7aafd14272; retrieved 2026-09-21T07:50:42.092Z.