What happened
On December 31, 2008, a Cessna 172D, registration OB-1460, operated by Transporte Aéreo Ejecutivo S.R.L (TAE), was conducting a second tourist flight over the Nazca Lines. Shortly after departing from the Nazca aerodrome at 16:30 UTC, the aircraft reached an altitude of approximately 2,200 feet when the pilot heard an explosion and experienced an immediate loss of engine power.
The pilot declared an emergency and executed an emergency landing in an abandoned dirt field known as El Elias. The aircraft landed successfully without structural damage to the airframe. All four occupants—the pilot and three foreign passengers—exited the aircraft on their own and sustained no injuries.
The investigation
The CIAA investigation focused on the engine failure and the maintenance history of the components. Technical analysis of the Teledyne Continental IO-3/60KB engine revealed that the number 4 cylinder had suffered a structural rupture.
Metallurgical examinations conducted by the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería (UNI) determined that the failure was caused by fatigue of the aluminum alloy housing. The study found that the cracks originated on the internal wall of the housing, weakened by localized pitting and intergranular corrosion. The investigation also noted that the engine had operated for only 78 hours and 36 minutes since the cylinder had undergone non-destructive testing (NDT) inspections. Furthermore, investigators identified errors in the maintenance records regarding the NDT inspections performed on 55 engine components.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was the sudden loss of power caused by the rupture of the number 4 cylinder during the climb phase.
- The cylinder failure resulted from long-term material fatigue and corrosion within the aluminum housing.
- The investigation noted that the magnitude of the fatigue surface suggested the degradation could have been detected through monitoring for compression deficiencies or gas leaks during previous flight cycles.
- Discrepancies were found in the documentation of maintenance tasks related to non-destructive testing of engine components.