The pilot noted the takeoff of the RV-6A from Spearfish, S.D., was normal, but as the airplane climbed through 6,000 feet the engine suddenly lost power.
He switched on the auxiliary fuel pump and tried to restart the engine, but was unsuccessful, so he made a forced landing to a nearby pasture.
The nose landing gear collapsed during the landing, and the airplane came to rest inverted. The pilot and passenger received minor injuries.
The RV-6A had an automotive engine which had been adapted for aviation use. During the investigation it was determined that the coil-distributor wire had loosened and was no longer connected to the coil, rendering the automotive ignition system inoperative and causing the engine to lose power.
The NTSB determined the probable cause was the coil-distributor wire loosening in flight, which rendered the ignition system inoperative and subsequently caused the loss of engine power.
NTSB Identification: CEN13LA220
This April 2013 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
Many mechanics and pilots don’t understand that ground vehicles and air vehicles vibrate at different frequency and amplitude due to their operational environments. That is the reason for securing wires and hoses with clamps and tie straps. It will take the strain off the connector ends. Vibration and blowing air can loosen many a secured component.
Live and learn.
In the early seventies I built a Pietenpol, N99776, powered by a Corvair engine.
Prior to the final FAA inspection The IA at the field where I was located and I went over the plane. Burt, the IA, said it looked good but he didn’t like the way the coil wire was held in the distributer.
I said in all the years I’d been driving I had never seen one come out.
The next the FAA representative Mr. Greather, inspected the plane and found a couple easily corrected problems which we took care of. Then he pointed out the coil wire. I told him the same thing I told Burt. He said that it was” my butt” however if it were him he would secure it and signed it off.
A couple days later I flew it to a nearby airport in a heavily populated area to show an IA friend of mine. He said he wouldn’t fly that “Two by Four” but it was OK. Then he mentioned the Coil wire. Of course I repeated the same story. Then I flew it home.
The following Sunday I was out practicing take off and landings.
I Roared down the runway Brrrrrrrrrr Took off and Brrrrrrrrrr……… then Shhhhhh… Bang when I hit back on the runway. As I was rolling down the runway I looked over the side. There swinging from the coil was, you guessed it, the coil wire!
And the tech-savy wonder why so many of us dinosaurs continue to fly behind ancient engine designs with (gasp) heavy but redundant magneto ignition.
Regardless of the cause, very glad the pilot and his passenger survived the incident.