Bellanca 17-30A N39880

Summary

On 16 June 2022 at about 14:15 local time, a Bellanca 17-30A registered N39880 was involved in an accident near Madison, Mississippi, 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

16 June 2022 at 14:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Madison, Mississippi, United States

Nearest airport

Bruce Campbell Field Airport (MBO)

Coordinates

32.4387, -90.1031

Aircraft

Bellanca 17-30A

Registration

N39880

Category

Airplane

Year built

1973

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Madison → Madison

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CEN22LA256

Nobody was injured.

The failure of a muffler weld due to inadequate maintenance, which resulted in a fire.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot noticed smoke in the cockpit while on departure. He returned to land and when the smoke worsened during taxi, he stopped the airplane and shut down the engine. The pilot and passenger egressed the airplane and observed a fire in the engine compartment. They were not able to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the forward fuselage. Postaccident examination revealed the right-side exhaust system was fractured between the muffler and tailpipe. The investigation determined that a crack in the weld joining the aft ball tube to the aft muffler flange had previously failed, and a weld repair had been performed. Metallurgical examination determined that the repair weld had failed, allowing hot exhaust gases to escape onto the surrounding engine compartment components. Maintenance records show the Airworthiness Directive (AD) calling for the repair weld to be inspected was complied with during the last annual inspection, just under a month and about 10 flight hours before the accident. The mechanic that completed the inspection was not aware of the AD requirement to spray the outside of the muffler with a penetrating oil to check for cracks, which most likely would have identified the muffler weld issue prior to the failure.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.