NTSB Factual Report

On September 15, 2003, about 1830 eastern daylight time, a Lake LA-4-200, N32DQ, was substantially damaged during an aborted takeoff at Mayers Airport, Ashland, Virginia. The certificated private pilot, and passenger were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the personal flight. No flight plan had been filed for the local flight that was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.

The pilot stated:

"...Takeoff run normal, rotated at 60 mph. Right after liftoff, the engine or prop sound changed. It sounded like the prop, but different sound that I'd ever heard before. Plane seemed to slow and started to settle or drop. I decided to abort, pulled power, landed and hit the brakes. Couldn't stop in time, nose wheel came off when we crossed the driveway at end of runway. Went downhill into the pond, nosed down into the water and stopped...."

According to an inspector from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), after the accident, a ground power run was performed. The engine was started with no problems noted, and after warm-up, a magneto check was performed. The drop on each magneto was 50 rpm. The engine was then accelerated to takeoff power, 2,500 rpm, and remained there for 5 minutes with no variation in rpm noted. The high power run was repeated a second time, again with no variation in rpm noted. However, when the propeller control was placed in the cruise power range, 2,200 to 2,300 rpm, the propeller tended to hunt, plus or minus 50 rpm.

The inspector further reported that this was the original engine, delivered with the airplane in October 1978. The engine and propeller had been overhauled once, in August 2000, at a total time of 1,237.9 hours. Following the overhaul, the engine and propeller had accumulated an additional 120 hours. Examination of the overhaul records revealed the propeller governor had not been overhauled when the engine was overhauled. However, it was still within the recommended overhaul time of 2,000 hours published by the manufacturer.

The propeller governor was forwarded to Hartzell for examination. The Hartzell report stated in part:

"...The governor pumping capacity was slightly less than specified. The high RPM setting was set 230 RPM too high. The RPM setting discrepancy would result in the engine/propeller RPM being 2956 RPM as opposed to the specified 2,700 RPM"

"The governor was disassembled and visually inspected. There were some small particles trapped inside the gasket screen. There was sludge build-up in the inside of the drive gear (outside the area of pilot spool contact). There was scoring in the pockets of the gear pump. The drive gear and idler gear were both worn in the bearing surfaces...."

NTSB Probable Cause

The pilot's decision to perform an aborted takeoff after he perceived a power loss. A factor was the unsuitable terrain the airplane encountered after it overran the end of the runway.