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CHI92DEV01

1991-12-11 · CARMI, Illinois, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport CUL

N1V has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (AIRBUS HELICOPTERS DEUTSCHLAND EC135T3, built 2023), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

AN ENGINE BEARING SEIZURE AND A PREMATURE FORCED LANDING FLARE.

Factual narrative

A PRIVATE PILOT ON A TRIAL FLIGHT IN A NEWLY ACQUIRED AIRPLANE NOTICED A VIBRATION AND DECIDED TO LAND. THE ENGINE SEIZED ENROUTE TO HOME FIELD, AND THE PILOT ATTEMPTED A LANDING IN AN OPEN FIELD. WITNESSES DESCRIBED A HIGH FLARE FOR THE FORCED LANDING, A STALL AND A NOSE DOWN IMPACT. THE REAR CRANKSHAFT BEARING WAS FOUND SEIZED DURING ENGINE TEARDOWN. THE ENGINE HAD RUN 30 HOURS SINCE OVERHAUL FOUR AND ONE HALF YEARS EARLIER. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_CHI92DEV01.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (stall). All research papers