Piper PA-28R-200 N9420N

Summary

On 2 March 2023 at about 19:05 local time, a Piper PA-28R-200 registered N9420N, operated by Space Cadets Inc, was involved in an accident near Slaughters, Kentucky, United States. One person was 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

2 March 2023 at 19:05

Classification

Accident

Location

Slaughters, Kentucky, United States

Coordinates

37.4904, -87.5175

Aircraft

Piper PA-28R-200

Registration

N9420N

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Space Cadets Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Madisonville → Springfield

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA23LA144

Nobody was injured.

Maintenance personnel’s failure to secure the fuel strainer bowl with safety wire, which resulted in the fuel strainer bowl leaking and starving the engine of fuel. Also causal was the obstruction of two fuel injector nozzles.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot purchased an airplane that had not flown in 22 years and that had an extensive annual inspection completed the day before the accident flight. On the day of the accident, the pilot flew the airplane on a short flight to an airport and topped off the fuel tanks. About 5 minutes after he departed on the second leg, the engine started to lose power so he performed an off-airport forced landing. The airplane landed hard, which resulted in substantial damage to the wings. Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that when electrical power was applied to the electric fuel pump, fuel leaked from the fuel strainer bowl. Further examination of the fuel strainer bowl revealed that the thumb wheel, which secured the fuel strainer bowl to the firewall, was loose and not secured with safety wire. Examination of the fuel system forward of the fuel strainer bowl revealed no fuel was present up to the fuel nozzles. Once the fuel strainer bowl was secured and the thumb wheel tightened, fuel flowed to the fuel nozzles and no leaks were noted. Additionally, one of the fuel injector nozzles was completely obstructed and another was partially obstructed. Since the fuel bowl was not safety wired, it likely loosened from vibration after the annual inspection which resulted in fuel leaking from the fuel strainer bowl. The fuel leak likely starved the engine of adequate fuel to operate normally, and contributed to the partial loss of engine power. The obstructed fuel injector nozzles also likely negatively impacted the engine’s performance during the flight.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.