ERA13LA407 · Piper PA-32R-300
Piper PA-32R-300 · Accident: loss of engine power (total) en route
From Northeast Alabama Regional Airport (GAD) to Northeast Alabama Regional Airport (GAD)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA13LA407
- 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
- Unknown
- 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-32R-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
- N8362C
- Operator
- Bonds Thomas P
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Northeast Alabama Regional Airport (GAD), Gadsden, ALTo Northeast Alabama Regional Airport (GAD), Gadsden, AL
- 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
- Defining eventThe 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
- Loss of engine power (total)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Personnel issues › Task performance
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that, about 3 to 4 nautical miles east-northeast of the nearest airport, the engine suddenly quit. GPS data indicate that the airplane was about 4,300 ft about that time. The pilot's attempts to restore power were unsuccessful. The pilot stated that he turned the airplane right toward the airport, and that, as he neared it, he announced his intention to land. While on approach, about 1/2 to 3/4 mile from the intended runway and with the flaps retracted, he allowed the airplane to slow to the point that the landing gear autoextend system caused the landing gear to extend, which he had not planned to do. He continued toward the runway, and the airplane touched down in water about 100 yards from the approach end of the intended runway. The pilot stated that, if the landing gear had not extended automatically, he believed that he could have reached land. Although the pilot reported that he turned toward the airport after the power loss, GPS data indicated that he actually flew west of the extended runway centerline and then maneuvered toward the airport. Based on data from the best glide chart in the Pilot's Operating Handbook, if the pilot had proceeded on a more direct course to the airport after the engine power loss or had not allowed the landing gear to automatically extend while on short final, the airplane likely would have been able to reach the intended runway.
Postrecovery examination of the engine revealed that the single-drive dual magneto was separated from the accessory case because the lower attachment hardware had lost its clamping force and that the upper flange of the magneto had fractured due to fatigue cracking. Examination also revealed that the magneto was not installed in accordance with an engine manufacturer's service instruction—an incorrect gasket, washer, and clamp were used—all of which contributed to the separation of the magneto. Although compliance with service instructions is not mandatory for Part 91 operators, if the instructions had been complied with the last time the magneto was serviced, it is likely that it would not have separated despite the fact that the airplane had not undergone an annual inspection in over 2 1/2 years and, therefore, was unairworthy at the time of the accident.
Probable cause
The improper installation of the engine magneto by unknown maintenance personnel, which resulted in the magneto separating from the engine and a subsequent total loss of engine power. Contributing to the accident was the pilot's delay in proceeding directly to the nearest airport and his failure to prevent the automatic extension of the landing gear following the total loss of engine power, which resulted in a landing undershoot.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA13LA407
- Event ID
- 20130909X84734
- Case number
- ERA13LA407
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: 7b7d8d23815d1a484c7366146779c8af63aaf9c62881aca75694eaada5bb6c23; retrieved 2026-09-15T22:48:39.501Z.