Cessna 182 N97038

Summary

On 24 May 2014 at about 19:11 local time, a Cessna 182 registered N97038 was involved in an accident near Arvin, California, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 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

24 May 2014 at 19:11

Classification

Accident

Location

Arvin, California, United States

Coordinates

35.2017, -118.8331

Aircraft

Cessna 182

Registration

N97038

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Corona → Porterville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR14LA207

2 people had minor injuries.

The pilot’s failure to reconnect the air-oil separator return line after completing an oil change, which resulted in a total loss of engine power due to oil starvation.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot reported that, while in cruise flight, he noticed that the engine oil pressure had dropped. He declared an emergency and was initially given a heading to the closest airport. About 2-3 minutes later, he heard rattling noises from the engine, then the cabin filled with black smoke. He identified an open field and maneuvered for a forced landing. The airplane hit a berm and bounced, hitting several more berms, until it came to rest inverted. On-scene photographs showed that the belly of the airplane was coated with engine oil aft of the engine firewall. An engine examination identified that the air-oil separator return line was not connected to the return port located on a cylinder rocker cover. Maintenance records showed that the pilot had performed an oil change 4.3 hours before the accident. Since the oil filter is located behind the air-oil separator return line, it is likely that the pilot removed the air-oil separator return line to access the oil filter and failed to reconnect the line after replacing the filter. While in flight, oil slowly drained out of the air-oil separator return line and open return port, coating the belly of the airplane, until the engine experienced catastrophic failure due to oil starvation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.