Cirrus SR22 N22WX

Summary

On 7 September 2014 at about 18:36 local time, a Cirrus SR22 registered N22WX was involved in an accident near Langola Township, Minnesota, United States. 4 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

7 September 2014 at 18:36

Classification

Accident

Location

Langola Township, Minnesota, United States

Coordinates

45.8017, -94.1344

Aircraft

Cirrus SR22

Registration

N22WX

Category

Airplane

Year built

2002

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mankato → Breezy Point

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN14LA486

Nobody was injured.

Maintenance personnel’s failure to apply sufficient torque on the throttle control lever nut, which resulted in a loss of throttle control and subsequent loss of engine power.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot was conducting a cross-country personal flight. He reported that, during cruise flight, the airspeed began to decrease, and the engine began to lose power. The pilot attempted to restore engine power but was not successful. He then conducted a forced landing to a road. During the landing roll, the pilot maneuvered the airplane to miss an oncoming car, and the airplane subsequently struck a guy wire, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing. A postaccident examination of the engine revealed that the throttle control lever nut was not torqued to factory specifications in accordance with an engine manufacturer service bulletin (SB). The knurl teeth of both the throttle control lever and shaft displayed signatures of machining with adhesive wear scars on the surfaces. In addition, the surface of the control lever that the nut was normally secured to displayed scoring wear scars. The surface signatures were consistent with the throttle control lever nut not having been properly torqued. A review of the engine logbook entries revealed that a rebuilt engine was installed on the airplane about 73.1 flight hours before the accident. The mechanics at the repair station who installed the engine, which would have included installing the throttle body and torqueing the throttle control lever nut, reported that they were knowledgeable of the manufacturer SB, and no discrepancies in their procedures were found. Even though the mechanics reported that they were familiar with the SB, it is likely that they did not apply sufficient torque on the throttle control lever nut during the installation of the engine.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.