Incident Overview
An aircraft nosed over in soft soil after performing a forced landing. The event occurred when the engine failed during the departure climb and the pilot was unable to restart it. The pilot subsequently accomplished a forced landing to a field. Upon landing, the nose gear became bogged in soft soil, causing the aircraft to nose over.
Engine Examination
The powerplant was disassembled and examined. During disassembly, the crankshaft was discovered to be fractured between the number one and two cylinder journals. Examination of the aircraft airframe and engine logbooks revealed that the crankshaft was installed on March 28, 1984, when the engine was overhauled. The aircraft had accumulated a total of 54 flight hours since the engine overhaul. It could not be determined whether the crankshaft was new or reconditioned at the time of installation.
Conclusion
The forced landing was necessitated by the engine failure, and the nose-over occurred due to the soft soil conditions. The investigation identified a fractured crankshaft as a finding, but no determination was made regarding its prior condition.