Piper PA-28-140 N54454

Summary

On 2 April 2000 at about 21:00 local time, a Piper PA-28-140 registered N54454 was involved in an accident near Pine City, Minnesota, United States. 2 people were on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

2 April 2000 at 21:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Pine City, Minnesota, United States

Coordinates

45.8293, -92.9606

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-140

Registration

N54454

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Aerial Observation

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mora → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI00LA103

1 person had minor injuries.

A loss of engine power due to the failure of the number four cylinder's exhaust valve spring and exhaust valve. Contributing to the accident were, the barbwire fence and the clump of high vegetation encountered by the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane encountered an in-flight loss of engine power and sustained substantial damage on impact with a fence and vegetation during a forced landing in a field. The pilot had minor injury. The passenger was uninjured. The engine's number four cylinder's exhaust valve spring and valve were found failed. The valve spring had a 45-degree fracture approximately 0.75 inches from an end. The valve head was found with approximately a third of its' face fractured off. A section of valve head was found within the cylinder. The valve head's face and head section had indentations. The pilot stated, 'With the lake to our west, a bunch of trees to our north, a house to our south behind us, when the engine quit. I chose to turn 90[degrees] to the east fly under some high tension wires, which I knew I could do safely, to a field on the other side. The field was not very wide, but I felt it was safer for landing without any houses close by. Being 200 to 300 feet above the ground I didn't have the altitude to turn 180[degrees] and land in the field below. I could not get stopped in the narrow field, so consequently we went through the barb wire fence on the east side and hit a clump of bushes with our left wing, which brought us to a stop.'

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.