Cessna T182T N291FR

Summary

On 31 January 2021 at about 19:44 local time, a Cessna T182T registered N291FR, operated by Morey's West Coast Adventures, Inc, was involved in an accident near Crescent City, 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

31 January 2021 at 19:44

Classification

Accident

Location

Crescent City, California, United States

Coordinates

41.8403, -124.1720

Aircraft

Cessna T182T

Registration

N291FR

Category

Airplane

Year built

2012

Engines

1

Operator

Morey's West Coast Adventures, Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Medford → Crescent City

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR21LA098

2 people had minor injuries.

The partial loss of engine power due to the failure of both magneto capacitors.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor noticed a flashing red turbine inlet temperature (TIT) warning light during the flight. He enrichened the fuel mixture, which returned the TIT to normal. Shortly after, the engine began to run rough. The flight instructor switched to the left magneto and the engine lost power. He then switched to the right magneto and the engine continued to run rough. He switched back to both magnetos and the engine continued to run rough. The flight instructor then adjusted the mixture and turned on the auxiliary fuel pump. Despite his actions, he was unable to get the engine to operate at a power setting sufficient to maintain altitude. The flight instructor located an open field and initiated a forced landing. The airplane landed in marshland and nosed over during the landing. The postaccident examination of the engine revealed excessive gap on all sparkplugs and two of the sparkplug electrodes were fouled. The magnetos would not produce spark and had corrosion on their internal components. It was also noted that the pressurized magnetos did not have a moisture trap or filter installed. The magnetos were sent to a facility for further examination, which revealed deformities on both magneto point assembly contact areas and the failure of both magneto capacitors during testing. The failure of the capacitors likely resulted in the deformities on the points surface contact areas resulting in the magnetos not producing sufficient spark for normal operation.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.