Amateur-built Kitfox 2-3 accident near Escanaba, Michigan, November 3, 2015

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

While on the downwind leg of the traffic pattern for landing, the private pilot of the experimental amateur-built airplane heard a "clunk" sound from the front of the airplane; however, the propeller continued to rotate and the engine appeared to be operating normally. The pilot continued to the base and final legs of the traffic pattern and attempted to add engine power, but the engine "overreved." The airplane lost altitude as it neared the runway and touched down on the parking apron, then continued into a ditch, where it nosed over and came to rest inverted. A postaccident examination revealed that the propeller gearbox had failed in flight. All of the drive gear and propeller drive teeth were either worn or destroyed, and the gearbox drive gear displayed discoloration and heat signatures consistent with oil starvation. Additionally, there was no usable oil present in the gearbox, and no evidence of an oil leak. Although the airplane owner stated that he had added oil to the gearbox before the flight, it is likely that the flight departed with an insufficient oil supply in the propeller gearbox, which resulted in subsequent oil starvation. When the gearbox failed, the engine continued to operate; however, it ceased to drive the propeller, which resulted in a loss of thrust.

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.