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Atlas / NTSB / MKC84FA010

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event MKC84FA010

1983-10-26 ST. LOUIS, Missouri, United States Airport · STL None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N30DR

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

PIPER PA-31-325

Year of manufacture

1978 · 5 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING TI0-540 SER (310 hp)

Seats / Engines

8 seats · 2 engines

Last airworthiness date

19781118

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A31D54

Registrant of record

RUBLE FORCE ONE LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

WHILE IN A CLIMB AFTER TAKEOFF, THE AIRCREW ENCOUNTERED AN ENG PROBLEM (WHICH WAS REPORTED AS DETONATION) & REQUESTED CLEARANCE TO RETURN TO THE DEPARTURE ARPT. THE FLT WAS VECTORED FOR A RIGHT TRAFFIC PATTERN TO RWY 24. THE PLT REPORTED HE WAS AT 2000 FT MSL & HAD FEATHERED THE #1 ENG AS HE TURNED ONTO BASE LEG. GROUND WITNESSES OBSERVED SMOKE TRAILING THE ACFT AS IT TURNED FROM BASE TO FINAL APCH. REPORTEDLY, THE #2 ENG LOST ALL POWER & THE AIRCREW WERE UNABLE TO REACH THE RWY. THE ACFT LANDED HARD ON THE ARPT, BUT APRX 1350 FT SHORT OF THE RWY. AFTER TOUCHDOWN, THE RIGHT PROP BLADES SLASHED INTO THE GRASS TURF, THE LEFT WING HIT 4 APCH LIGHTS, THEN THE ACFT CROSSED A GULLY & SUBSEQUENTLY, THE RIGHT GEAR COLLAPSED. A TEARDOWN OF THE #2 ENG REVEALED THAT ITS MASTER ROD HAD FAILED. BOTH OF THE FRACTURE SURFACES WERE COMPLETELY SMEARED, REMOVING EVIDENCE OF THE FRACTURE ORIGIN. THE #1 ENG WAS REMOVED & MOUNTED ONANOTHER ACFT & OPERATED NORMALLY. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1983_MKC84FA010.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗