12 Mar 2019: Piper PA32R 300

12 Mar 2019: Piper PA32R 300 (N750R) — Unknown operator

No fatalities • Waterloo, IL, United States

Probable cause

The loss of engine power due to a connecting rod failure for reasons that could not be determined due to secondary mechanical damage, which resulted in a subsequent forced landing.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On March 12, 2019, at 1442 central daylight time, a Piper PA32R-300 airplane, N750R, was substantially damaged during a forced landing following a loss of engine power near Waterloo, Illinois. The pilot sustained serious injuries, one passenger sustained minor injuries, and the second passenger, a child restrained in a car seat, was not injured. The airplane operated by the pilot under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as a personal flight. The pilot reported hearing a "horrible noise" and the engine "immediately seized" about 10 minutes from the destination airport. Oil covered the windshield, obstructing his forward field of view. He executed a forced landing to a road by holding the airplane in a right crab to see out of the left side window. The airplane came to rest inverted in a grass area adjacent to the road with damage to the fuselage and both wings. A postrecovery engine examination revealed the No. 4 and No. 6 connecting rods had separated from the crankshaft. The no. 4 connecting rod was fractured through the upper rod yoke. The corresponding rod cap and bearing fragments were deformed. The no. 6 connecting rod was fractured across one side of the rod yoke; the opposite side was intact but deformed. The corresponding rod cap was deformed. The connecting rods remained attached to the pistons. The pistons were wedged within the cylinders. The pistons, lower cylinder flanges and connecting rods exhibited secondary mechanical damage. The crankshaft was intact. The crankcase was fractured above the No. 4 and No. 6 cylinders exposing a hole in the upper surface of the crankcase. Metallurgical examination was unable to determine source of the initial failure due to secondary mechanical damage. The intact fracture surfaces that were available for examination exhibited features consistent with overstress.

Contributing factors

  • cause Recip eng cyl section — Failure

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 150/10kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.