NTSB: Bad bolts found in engine of Bauer's plane

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The wreckage of Andre Bauer's airplane after a May 24 crash near Blacksburg.
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Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's plane had logged less than 20 hours in the air since its engine was overhauled -- with at least two bolts that were a quarter-inch too short -- when it crashed near Blacksburg earlier this year, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The recently released NTSB report doesn't point out what caused the crash, which injured Bauer and 77-year-old John Leonhardt. But it does reveal that the airplane's engine might not have been in proper working order; that Bauer admittedly didn't compute performance data for taking off or landing on the dirt strip; that the runway wasn't long enough for the plane to takeoff and clear a 50-foot obstacle; and that the plane lost power during its failed takeoff attempt.

And, the owner of the grass and dirt strip

where Bauer crashed told the lieutenant governor beforehand that "if he was not comfortable with the runway upon arrival … he would meet him at another airport," the report states.

Federal investigators dissected what remains they could find of the plane, a Mooney M20E, and its engine shortly after the May crash.

They found that two intake bolts were missing, and the washers that were supposed to hold them in hadn't been flattened, which would have locked the bolts in place. They also determined that two bolts holding the engine's induction tube were the wrong size, based on specifications in the Lycoming parts catalog. Lycoming manufactured the engine.

The threads where the missing bolts were supposed to have been weren't damaged, according to the NTSB report. That means that they likely vibrated out, said Jim Hamilton, who manages Columbia Owens Downtown Airport, where Bauer's plane was hangered.

"That's not something that you expect to happen," Hamilton said.

"The facility that installed the engine certified it as airworthy 19 hours before the accident. The pilot is not the mechanic. The pilot during the pre-flight inspection is required to ensure that all components are present. There is a prescribed procedure in the pilots' handbook that tells you what to look for. And from what I read, they did that very diligently."

Bauer took his plane to Aircraft Maintenance Services in Camden for routine work. That company determined the engine needed to be overhauled (it was leaking oil), and sent it to America's Aircraft Engines in Tulsa, Okla., in February for the work.

"It's kind of surprising to us. We've only been doing this for about 30 years. It's the first time a reporter ever called," said Steve Fowler, vice president of the Oklahoma business.

Fowler declined to comment further until reviewing the NTSB report.

No one at the Camden facility could be reached for comment.

The overhaul facility would have had to certify that the engine was airworthy, and the maintenance facility would have had to certify that the plane with the overhauled engine in it was fit to fly, Hamilton said.

Bauer, in a statement, declined comment until a final, official report is issued. That could take months.

In the meantime, the Republican incumbent hopes to be back on the campaign trail soon. He faces Democrat Robert Barber in November.

Bauer's campaign manager Rod Shealy said Tuesday that "nothing's changed" in light of the new NTSB report.

"I think everything in that report was pretty much common knowledge. It just made it official," he said.

Toxicology results on the lieutenant governor, who had been taken to Greenville Memorial Hospital initially for treatment, came back negative. Toxicology samples taken at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center on Leonhardt were "inadvertently destroyed by hospital personnel" before the NTSB could subpoena the information, the report states.

Bauer was in the Upstate the day of the crash to attend a funeral. He and Leonhardt are both certified pilots, with Leonhardt having logged more than 4,000 hours in a Mooney M20Es alone.

Jason Spencer can be reached at 562-7214, or jason.spencer@shj.com.