Accident Details
On May 15, 2023, at approximately 1713 central daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Walker-Curtiss JN4D, registration N8262, sustained substantial damage during a forced landing near Greenville, Kentucky. The private pilot and a pilot-rated passenger were uninjured. The flight was conducted under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight.
Engine Failure and Forced Landing
The pilot reported that three previous flight legs that day proceeded without engine issues. After landing at the third airport, he filled the fuel tank for the final leg and performed a preflight inspection. The flight departed Madisonville Regional Airport (2I0), Madisonville, Kentucky, around 1700. About 10 minutes after takeoff, while flying at 1,500 ft above ground level, the engine suddenly stopped “as if it were turned off.” The pilot attempted to restart the engine multiple times; on the third attempt, the engine started and ran at full power for approximately 10 seconds before stopping again. Further restart attempts were unsuccessful.
Over rolling hills, the pilot identified a logging road and a field. Initially, he aimed for the logging road due to easier recovery access, but upon approaching, he observed stumps and diverted to a nearby field that had been a strip mine. He executed a three-point landing; the airplane skipped, and on the second touchdown, something contacted the main landing gear, causing it to separate. The airplane came to rest with the empennage twisted left, the right lower wing torn off about 2 ft outboard from the wing root, and the landing gear sheared off.
Post-Accident Inspection
Following recovery, operational testing of the engine ignition system revealed electrical power reaching the distributor but no power from the distributor to the ignition module. Inspection of the distributor showed that the female spade electrical terminal connector of the red-colored (power) electrical wire had separated from both the plastic connector and its mating male connector at the distributor. Close examination of the female spade connector and plastic connector indicated a lack of positive locking resistance of the female terminal inside the plastic connector. When the separated female spade connector was placed on its mating male connector, the connection was tight. No secondary locking device was present on the electrical connector at the distributor to prevent a single-point failure.