EAA Sport Aviation - November 2010

rpm continued to rise. He then throttled back in an attempt to control the propeller overspeed, but he heard a loud bang from the engine followed by smoke in the cockpit and loss of engine power.

The pilot was now over Lopez Island and attempted to reach a small airstrip but quickly determined he wouldn’t make it. He initiated a forced landing on a nearby road, had to pull up at the last minute to avoid a vehicle, then landed on the road. The left wing struck a wooden fence post, resulting in substantial structural damage and twisting and buckling of the empennage.

The pilot and passengers were treated for scrapes and bruises by the Lopez Island Fire Department. The sheriff was quoted by the newspaper as saying, “The aircraft’s fortunate landing was due in great part to the pilot’s composure and skill.”

WHAT WAS THE PILOT THINKING?

What possessed this pilot to conduct his initial post-maintenance test flight (immediately following an extensive engine teardown and propeller overhaul) on an overwater flight with a cabin full of passengers, including children? Could he possibly have been oblivious to the extremely high risk associated with such a flight?

Unfortunately, the FARs aren’t particularly helpful:

§ 91.407(b) No person may carry any person (other than crewmembers) in an aircraft that has been maintained, rebuilt, or altered in a manner that may have appreciably changed its flight characteristics or substantially affected its operation in flight until an appropriately rated pilot with at least a private pilot certificate flies the aircraft, makes an operational check of the maintenance performed or alteration made, and logs the flight in the aircraft records.

This regulation requires a post-maintenance test flight to be made (without passengers) and logged after any maintenance to the aircraft “that may have appreciably changed its flight characteristics or