N1181J

On July 18, 2022, at 1100 central daylight time, an Aero Commander 112, N1181J, was substantially damaged with it was involved in an accident near Granbury, Texas. The pilot was uninjured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight.

The pilot, who was also the airplane owner, stated that he performed a new engine run-up on the day of the accident. He stated that after he preflighted the airplane, he taxied the airplane and performed multiple run-ups. He then shut down the airplane and allowed it to cool for about 15 minutes. He restarted the airplane and taxied to the airport fuel facility, where he added about 10 gallons of fuel per tank so that the total fuel aboard was about 28 gallons. After he started the airplane, he performed additional runups, and “no irregularities or abnormalities were indicated.” The pilot then taxied to the runway and performed additional runups while holding for takeoff and “no irregularities or abnormalities were indicated.”

After takeoff, the engine sustained a loss of power while the airplane climbed through about 100 ft above ground level. The pilot extended the landing gear, pitched the nose down with the stall warning horn sounding, and performed a forced landing on a road. The airplane impacted a highway guard rail and the terrain, resulting in substantial damage to the fuselage.

Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that one of the airbox’s three metal spacers was missing. Pieces of the spacer were found in cylinder Nos. 1 and 2. These cylinders exhibited pitting damage from the spacer. The No. 1 cylinder spark plug gap contained spacer material within the gap. There were no other anomalies with the engine or airframe that would have precluded normal operations.

The airframe logbook showed that an annual inspection and engine installation, following a propeller strike teardown inspection, was completed September 15, 2021, with a tachometer time of 3,593.9 hours and an airframe time of 3,563.9 hours. The accident occurred on the first flight following the annual inspection.

The airframe logbook entry showed that the last annual inspection was dated July 12, 2022, with a tachometer time of 3,595.49 hours, and was performed by a different airframe and powerplant mechanic (later mechanic) than the one who performed the September 15, 2021, annual inspection. The later mechanic stated to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector that he did not have the airplane’s engine logbook when he performed his annual inspection. The later mechanic’s entry stated, “performed an annual inspection,” and there was no verbiage in the entry that stated that the annual inspection was limited to the airframe.