Skip to content

FTW87LA028

1986-12-06 · MONTGOMERY, Texas, United States · Minor · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport CXO

N3171R has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (NORTH AMERICAN AVIATION INC AT-6C), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

A PRIVATE PILOT CHECK RIDE WAS INTERRUPTED BY A FORCED LANDING ON A GOLF COURSE AFTER HAVING EXPERIENCED SEVERE VIBRATIONS AND A LOSS OF POWER. DURING THE FORCED LANDING THE ACFT COLLIDED WITH A 10 FT TALL TREE AND NOSED DOWN TO TERRAIN IMPACT. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE #3 CYLINDER HAD SEPARATED FROM THE ENG. THE LARGE DIAMETER CYLINDER HOLD DOWN STUDS SEPARATED IN OVERLOAD, BUT THE LOWER SMALL DIAMETER STUDS WERE INTACT, INDICATING THAT THE CYLINDER HOLD DOWN NUTS HAD BACKED OFF. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1986_FTW87LA028.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.