Crimmins SMYTH SIDEWINDER N92AC

Summary

On 7 May 2004 at about 18:30 local time, a Crimmins SMYTH SIDEWINDER registered N92AC was involved in an accident near Natrona, Wyoming, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

7 May 2004 at 18:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Natrona, Wyoming, United States

Coordinates

43.0500, -106.7833

Aircraft

Crimmins SMYTH SIDEWINDER

Registration

N92AC

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Ferry

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Thermopolis → Casper

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DEN04LA070

Nobody was injured.

fuel starvation due to contamination, resulting in the fuel selector valve becoming totally blocked. Contributing factors were the inadequate conditional inspection, and the lack of nsuitable terrain on which to make a forced landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

After refueling to capacity, the pilot took off to ferry his newly-purchased airplane it to his home base. After 1 hour in cruise flight at 9,500 feet msl, the engine --- which had been producing 2,500 rpm --- began "surging" and started losing power. Carburetor heat was opened and the mixture was adjusted, but the engine continued to lose power. Cylinder head temperature, oil temperature, and oil pressure indicated normal parameters. As the airplane began losing altitude, the pilot decided to land in an open area. During the landing rollout, the nose and right main landing gears were torn off, and the left main landing gear folded underneath the airplane. The firewall was buckled and there was wing damage. Later examination of the fuel selector valve a considerable amount of fine grit inside the fuel screen. Similar grit was seen inside the fuel tank. The airplane was given a conditional inspection on May 6, 2004. Prior to that, the last conditional inspection was on August 1, 1996. Tachometer time between these two inspections was 178.9 hours. At the last inspection, the fuel tank was removed, cleaned by a radiator shop, and reinstalled in the airplane.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.