NTSB Factual Report

On August 18, 2001, at 0730 mountain daylight time, a Piper PA-32RT-300 single-engine airplane, N3015L, was substantially damaged during a forced landing on a dirt road following a loss of engine power approximately 30 miles northeast of Rock Springs, Wyoming. The airplane was registered to Ten Hi Flyers , Inc., of Lakewood, Colorado and was operated by the pilot. The private pilot and his three passengers were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for this personal flight from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to Pinedale, Wyoming, which was operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The flight departed Steamboat Springs at 0615, and no flight plan was filed.

According to the pilot's written statement, the flight was approximately 20 miles north of Rock Springs, when the "aircraft experienced a prop[eller] runaway and loss of oil pressure." The pilot elected to divert towards Rock Springs; however, the engine began to lose power. The pilot was established in a glide toward a dirt road, when at 700 feet agl, "a connecting rod poked through the cowling and oil covered the windshield." Due to reduced vision and the unknown condition of the roadway, the pilot elected to make a landing gear retracted landing. The airplane came to rest upright on the shoulder of the road. According to an aircraft mechanic who reviewed the aircraft's damage, the aircraft's firewall sustained structural damage.

The pilot reported that the airplane underwent its last annual inspection on October 25, 2000 and had accumulated 228 hours since that annual. The Lycoming IO-540-K1G5D engine was factory overhauled and shipped from the factory on February 18, 2000. According to the pilot, the engine had accumulated 425 hours since the overhaul.

According to Emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2000-18-53, which was issued on September 5, 2000, any Lycoming IO-540-K1G5D engine that had been manufactured new, rebuilt, overhauled, or had the oil filter converter plate (part number LW-13904) or gasket (part number LW-13388) replaced, after April 1, 1999, had to comply with the AD. The AD required the replacement of the oil filter converter plate gasket before further flight on engines with more than 50 hours time since new, time since overhaul, or time since the last replacement of the gasket or converter plate, and thereafter every 50 hours time in service since the last replacement of the gasket. The AD was issued after the FAA received reports of certain oil filter converter plate gaskets extruding from the seat of the oil filter converter plate. The protruding or swelling of the gasket was allowing oil to leak from between the oil filter converter plate and the accessory housing. This condition, if not corrected, could result in complete loss of engine oil and subsequent seizing of the engine and possible fire.

On August 29, 2001, the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) and a representative from the engine manufacturer examined the engine at Beegles Aircraft Services, Greeley, Colorado. According to the engine representative, the engine displayed a "large hole in the left side of the crankcase in the area of the #4 connecting rod and cylinder base attach point." There was no oil present in the oil reservoir. Examination of the engine accessory section revealed that the oil filter converter plate gasket was extruding out past the adapter plate. The oil filter and oil filter converter plate were removed. The oil filter converter plate gasket displayed "deterioration" and "approximately 1/4-inch" of gasket was missing.

Review of the aircraft's maintenance records by the NTSB IIC and the engine representative revealed no record that the aforementioned AD had been complied with.

NTSB Probable Cause

the mechanic's failure to perform an airworthiness directive, which resulted in the loss of engine oil through a partially failed oil filter converter plate gasket, and subsequent failure of a connecting rod during cruise flight. A contributing factor was the lack of suitable terrain for the ensuing forced landing.