Hi y’all –
NTSB preliminary report is available on the NTSB website. Their investigation found that engine was out of oil, the oil drain cap was missing, and there was no safety wire or damage to the threads of the oil port. The obvious inference is that drain plug was not safety wired by whoever performed the most recent oil change, the plug worked its way loose, and the loss of engine oil led to the obvious result. Incidentally, we are told that imc prevailed. Both pilot and passenger’s injuries are described as “serious.”
The implications for the Cirrus community point both ways. On the poositive, Cirrus would seem not to be implicated in the loss of oil – any plane will lose an engine, if the oil drain plug is not adequately secured.
However, there are some negative implications, also. First, it would seem that (especially in imc) this would have been an occasion to use the parachute. I think the apparent reluctance to use the parachute is natural, in view of the fact that it totals the airplane and takes away all control from the pilot. Most of us feel that when push comes to shove, we can put a plane down safely in a field, so that it must be really difficult to pull that lever, when you feel that you will be able to save the plane just by doing a decent soft field landing. So, one serious implication for the Cirrus community would seem to be that the indications for pulling the lever need to be very clearly defined, and then drilled and practiced, so that a pilot in an emergency situation does not have to make a decision – he or she needs simply to follow specific operating procedures.
Second, the report suggests substantial damage to tthe plane and its occupants from the landing. The report is too sketchy to draw any hard conclusions, but the apparent loss of cockpit integrity is very concerning. Of course, we don’t know the nature of the impact, or any of the details of either the crash, or of the injuries to the occupants. Maybe the injuries was only technically “serious.” and, in fact, both occupants have survived. But until more information is available about the details of the impact and the injury, it seems to me that there is at least some basis for concern.
I, for one, would be very interested in hearing more about the details of the impact and the injuries. And, it goes without saying that I (and I am sure all of us) wish the occupants a speeedy recovery.
Peter Simon
There are some
Any updates on the Minnesota accident?
I’m still struggling with “problem with a pressure gauge.” Bad vacuum system? Oil pressure problem? Low manifold pressure?
I can’t think of a pressure gauge in and of itself causing an accident.
This is very relevant for all of us.
Andy