NTSB Factual Report

On August 18, 2017, about 1100 eastern daylight time, a Tecnam P-2004 Bravo, N319TA, was substantially damaged when it impacted terrain and a fence during a forced landing near Quinton, Virginia. The flight instructor was fatally injured and the commercial pilot receiving instruction received minor injuries. The airplane was registered to Mid Atlantic Air Adventures Inc and was operated by New Kent Flight Center as an instructional flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan had been filed for the local flight that departed New Kent County Airport (W96) Quinton, Virginia and was conducted under the provisions of Title14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.

The commercial pilot reported that this was his first Tecnam instructional flight for getting checked out in the airplane type. The pilot and instructor had flown together before for a different airplane checkout. They arrived at W96 and checked the weather and performed preflight preflight inspection of the airplane. No discrepancies were found. The instructor told the pilot that they would stay in the pattern until the weather improved, then head out to the practice area. The ceilings were at 1,200 ft overcast with 7 miles visibility, but it was improving quickly as the day grew hotter.

After departure around 1030, they performed several touch-and-go landings on runway 29, and the airplane performed normally. The final takeoff and climb out was normal and the pilot reported he did not hear or see anything to indicate there was a problem. As he started the left turn to the 90°crosswind leg in the pattern, about 600 ft mean sea level (msl) with a field elevation of 121 ft, the engine suddenly stopped producing power. The propeller was ceased rotating and did not windmill or move at all.

The flight instructor immediately said "I have the aircraft." At which point the pilot relinquished controls and looked for a place to land. They attempted to restart the engine, but nothing happened and the propeller remained stationary. They set up for the best glide speed of 60 knots and elected to land in the only area without trees or houses. Upon landing, the instructor said, "brace for impact." Just before the airplane touched down on the field it collided with a fence that sheared off the landing gear. The airplane continued to slide 150 ft through the field before striking another fence and coming to a stop on a gravel road.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors examined the wreckage and stated that a large fence board had entered the underside of the engine, pierced the firewall and went through the right side of the instrument panel. The landing gear was sheared off, the engine and mounts were partially detached and the tail was crumpled and twisted at the fuselage. Fuel was observed in the tanks and several gallons were sampled for testing and appeared absent of debris and water.

According to FAA and aircraft records, the airplane was a special light sport airplane and received its airworthiness certificate on April 24, 2008. It was a 2 place, internally braced high wing airplane, with a two-blade fixed wood propeller and a Rotax 912, 100 hp engine. At the time of the last 100-hour inspection on July 10, 2017, the airplane had 1,164.5 hours total time and the engine had 599.3 hours total time.

The weather at W96, 1-mile east northeast from the accident site, at 1055, was reported as wind from 180° at 5 knots, visibility 10 miles, overcast at 1,400 ft, temperature 28° C, dewpoint 26° C, and an altimeter setting of 29.90 inches of mercury.

The airplane was transported to a secured facility for additional examination.