What happened
Shortly after departing, a Cessna 414 reached an altitude of roughly 300 feet above ground level when the aircraft's right engine suffered a sudden and catastrophic failure. During this event, the right propeller ceased rotation while the blades remained in a low-pitch configuration. In an attempt to return to the airfield, the pilot executed a right-hand turn; however, the aircraft was unable to sustain its altitude during the maneuver.
As the pilot leveled the wings out of the turn, the plane continued to descend until it impacted a group of trees. There were no specific casualty figures provided in the source material regarding this event.
Findings
Post-accident inspection of the right engine identified that the crankshaft had fractured at the number 3 short cheek, located just ahead of the piston rod for the number two cylinder. Investigators determined that the bearing for the number two crankshaft had both melted and broken. This failure was triggered because a fragment of the damaged bearing obstructed the oil feed line servicing the number two bearing.
The obstruction of the oil feed line caused the bearing and crankshaft to overheat and eventually fracture. Additionally, the presence of trees at the impact site was noted as a contributing factor to the accident.