Beechcraft A36 N3627B

Summary

On 9 November 2007 at about 03:37 local time, a Beechcraft A36 registered N3627B was involved in an accident near Jean, Nevada, United States. 2 people were 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

9 November 2007 at 03:37

Classification

Accident

Location

Jean, Nevada, United States

Coordinates

35.7542, -115.2667

Aircraft

Beechcraft A36

Registration

N3627B

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Las Vegas → Phoenix

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Dark

NTSB number

LAX08LA027

Nobody was injured.

The loss of engine power as a result of a fatigue failure of the camshaft gear teeth. Contributing to the accident were the dark night lighting conditions and the rough, uneven terrain the airplane encountered during the forced landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane lost engine power while in cruise flight on a dark night. The pilot had been in contact with the local area Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) facility and reported the situation to the controller. The pilot indicated that he was in-between airports and did not want to risk a turn back to the departure airport due to the dark night and mountainous terrain conditions. After reporting the power loss, the pilot lost radio contact with the controller and decided to attempt a landing on the desert floor. The pilot landed the airplane gear up and struck desert shrubbery, which caused structural damage to the airplane. The pilot stated that the engine sounded as if it had lost a cylinder or a valve and it was running "weakly." A review of the airplane’s logbooks revealed that the airplane had flown 14 hours since the last 100-hour/annual inspections. The factory-remanufactured engine had been installed on June 15, 2001, and had a total time of 717 hours. An engine teardown was performed and investigators noted that several camshaft gear teeth were missing, some of which were found in the oil sump. A metallurgical examination of the camshaft gear and teeth revealed signatures consistent with normal wear. Many of the surfaces on the camshaft gear had been damaged due to continued operation after the teeth separation. A fracture surface at the site of a missing tooth showed evidence of fatigue initiating at the surface. The metallurgist noted surface marks at the root on both sides of each tooth. Hardness was tested between the gear teeth on both parts and was found to meet component specifications based on the R30N scale.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.