Mechanical failures led to emergency landing in McKinney in which plane crashed into car, NTSB says

Fox 4 Dallas ^ | 12/09/2023 | Fox 4 Staff

[DFG]

The NTSB found that mechanical failures caused a plane to go off the runway and crash into a car in McKinney last month.

It happened on November 11 and the pilot was coming from Abilene. The only injury reported was the person in the car that was struck.

Investigators said the first problem was a door seal that failed on the single-engine Lancair IV-P.

The plane lost pressurization, so the pilot made an emergency descent, then noticed a caution light about the propeller.

The pilot reduced power and tried an emergency landing at Aero Country Airport in McKinney, but the knob on the power lever came off.

He tried maximum braking, but without the working power lever, the plane kept going, through a fence and onto Virginia Parkway, where it hit a car that was driving by.

[DFG]

[DFG]

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4196631/posts

[BradyLS]

That’s a lot of fail for a swanky-looking craft!

Glad everyone lived to tell about it and hope everyone was insured against it.

[steve86]

Critical powerplant control knob failed. Probably wouldn’t happen on a certificated airframe. Lancair IV-P. Has quite an active accident and incident history.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Time to revamp the preflight checklist:

“Knob on the power lever is secure.”
“Check”

[ProtectOurFreedom]

FAIL 1: Door seal
FAIL 2: Pressurization
FAIL 3: Propeller warning light
FAIL 4: Knob on the power lever came off

Uh huh. Sure.

[Nifster]

That sucks

[dragnet2]

The pilot reduced power and tried an emergency landing but the knob on the power lever came off. It's like when your steering wheel comes off while your driving on the freeway.

[dragnet2]

The pilot reduced power and tried an emergency landing but the knob on the power lever came off.

It's like when your steering wheel comes off while your driving on the freeway.

[Zuriel]

**FAIL 1: Door seal
FAIL 2: Pressurization**

#2 caused by #1

Solution: duct tape

**FAIL 3: Propeller warning light**

Solution: cover light with duct tape

**FAIL 4: Knob on the power lever came off**

Solution: yep, duct tape

[Regulator]

Wouldn’t wanna be the IA who signed off on the build of this particular homebuilt.

[norwaypinesavage]

It was more like ‘your brake pedal falls off and you coast to a stop.

[dragnet2]

What about cement truck that abruptly stops in front of you? Or curve ahead? ☺

[Ezekiel]

The plane lost pressurization, so the pilot made an emergency descent, then noticed a caution light about the propeller.

The pilot reduced power and tried an emergency landing at Aero Country Airport in McKinney, but the knob on the power lever came off.

That might begin to explain why he gave it a swift kick before he walked away.

[GreenLanternCorps]

If I were buying an airplane, accident and incident history would be one of the first things I would look at…

[bigbob]

Acme Knob Co.

[dragnet2]

What are the chances of a power lever coming off? I’d guess as much as the entire yoke assembly coming off.

[FrozenAssets]

I once had a situation where I could not reduce power below about 16 or 17 hundred rpm. I called for the long runway and made an approach. To finish the approach and land I remembered what they did in the old rotary engine aircraft in ww1. Turn the magnetos on and off. I made the first turn off and used the same method to get all the way to my tie down spot.

A compadre of my dad’s did the same thing in 1943 in an a36 apache to make it in when the throttle quadrant had been destroyed by a cannon shell.

[Zathras]

Screaming as plane crashes… more duct tape

[FrozenAssets]

Of course that wouldn’t work here since turbines don’t have mags.