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NYC93FA154 · Cessna 182A

14 Aug 1993 · East Moriches, NY, United States

Skydive Long Island Cessna 182A · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb

From Spadaro Airport (1N2) to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
NYC93FA154
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
1 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
General aviation
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Cessna 182A

Aircraft type
Cessna 182
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N5010D
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Spadaro Airport (1N2)To not recorded
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 91: General Aviation
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
Initial climb
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
Stall/mush
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Destroyed

Cause areas

  • Engine assembly, piston › Fatigue
  • Manufacturer › Aircraft/equipment inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Aircraft control, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE PASSENGERS(PARACHUTISTS) REPORTED THAT AFTER THE AIRPLANE BECAME AIRBORNE THEY HEARD 'BACKFIRING', A 'BANG' AND '....SAW WHITE SMOKE...' THE JUMPMASTER REPORTED THAT THE ENGINE QUIT AFTER THE AIRPLANE TURNED DOWNWIND. THE AIRPLANE CONTINUED TO LOSE ALTITUDE ON DOWNWIND AND DURING THE TURN TO THE RUNWAY. IT CROSSED THE APPROACH END OF THE RUNWAY AT A 45-DEG ANGLE AND DRAGGED A WING ON THE RUNWAY, COMING TO REST NEXT TO THE RUNWAY. EXAMINATION OF THE ENGINE DISCLOSED THAT THE SKIRT ON THE #3 PISTON (SUPERIOR AIR PARTS P/N 626992) HAD FAILED UP TO THE LOWER RING GROVE. THE REMAINING PISTONS HAD CRACKS WHICH WERE ORIENTATED ON THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE PISTON, 90 DEG TO THE WRIST PIN. METALLURGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE PISTONS SHOWED SHARP CORNERS ON THE INSIDE OF THE SKIRT, AND SURFACE SHRINKAGE CAVITIES IN THE SHARP CORNERS OF THE MOLD WHICH WERE THE SOURCE OF THE FATIGUE CRACKS OBSERVED IN THE REMAINING PISTONS. THE AIRPLANE WAS AT LEAST 40 LBS OVER ITS MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE TAKEOFF WEIGHT.

Probable cause

ENGINE FAILURE DUE TO A FATIGUE FAILURE OF THE NO.3 PISTON. THE FATIGUE FAILURE WAS A RESULT OF INADEQUATE MANUFACTURING. IN ADDITION, THE PILOT MADE AN IMPROPER DECISION DURING THE FORCED LANDING IN ATTEMPTING TO STRETCH HIS APPROACH IN ORDER TO REACH THE RUNWAY INSTEAD OF LANDING IN TERRAIN ADJACENT TO THE APPROACH END OF THE RUNWAY. AS A RESULT, THE PILOT LOST CONTROL OF THE AIRPLANE AND IT STALLED ONTO THE RUNWAY. A FACTOR WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE OVERGROSS WEIGHT OF THE AIRPLANE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC93FA154
Event ID
20001211X13214
Case number
NYC93FA154
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: c34702ef39066ada54d1fbe1e744ef2f3b42aa0ad80e3abc877586fa261a6bcd; retrieved 2026-09-21T00:25:28.873Z.