Piper PA32R N4303P

Summary

On 30 April 2022 at about 12:10 local time, a Piper PA32R registered N4303P was involved in an accident near Loogootee, Indiana, 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

30 April 2022 at 12:10

Classification

Accident

Location

Loogootee, Indiana, United States

Coordinates

38.7157, -86.9128

Aircraft

Piper PA32R

Registration

N4303P

Category

Airplane

Year built

1983

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Huntingburg → Greencastle

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN22LA186

Nobody was injured.

The inadequate maintenance and subsequent failure of an internal component in the fuel servo that prevented adequate fuel flow to the engine, which resulted in a partial loss of engine power.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that about 10 minutes after departure the engine sustained a partial loss of power. During the forced landing to a gravel road, the airplane’s left wing contacted a tree, which resulted in substantial damage. A postaccident engine test run was performed, and the engine would not produce rated power, so the fuel servo was removed for testing. Functional testing and examination of the fuel servo revealed that it would not deliver fuel to rated specifications due to a self-locking nut being stuck inside the top section of the plug. This resulted in the head idle spring not properly allowing fuel to flow through the ball valve. The engine and fuel servo had both surpassed the manufacturers’ established time between overhauls by 572 hours.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.