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ATL91LA113 · Rockwell S-2R

17 Jun 1991 · Camilla, GA, United States

Maxwell Aviation Rockwell S-2R · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb

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Event

NTSB case
ATL91LA113
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
0 · 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

Rockwell S-2R

Aircraft type
Rockwell S-2
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
N8549V
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo 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 137: Agricultural
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)
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
Substantial

Cause areas

  • Engine assembly, cylinder › Low compression
  • Engine assembly, valve, exhaust › Movement restricted
  • Ignition system, spark plug › Fouled

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

NTSB narrative

THE PILOT REPORTED THAT SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, THE ENGINE SHUDDERED VIOLENTLY, THEN QUIT. THE AIRPLANE WAS FORCE LANDED STRAIGHT AHEAD, AND WAS SUBSTANTIALLY DAMAGED BY THE ENSUING COLLISION WITH TREES. POST-CRASH INSPECTION OF THE ENGINE REVEALED THAT THE SPARK PLUGS WERE BADLY CARBON FOULED. NO COMPRESSION WAS OBSERVED ON THE NUMBER ONE CYLINDER, AND COMPRESSION ON THE REMAINING CYLINDERS WAS ONLY 'FAIR.' DISASSEMBLY OF THE NUMBER ONE CYLINDER REVEALED THAT THE EXHAUST VALVE AND SEAT WERE PARTIALLY BURNED. A HAMMER WAS REQUIRED TO REMOVE THE VALVE FROM THE CYLINDER. THE PISTON WAS BADLY CARBONED. A MECHANIC REPORTED THAT THE OPERATOR WAS USING AUTOMOTIVE GASOLINE IN THIS AIRPLANE, WITHOUT AN STC FOR ITS USE.

Probable cause

RESTRICTED EXHAUST VALVE MOVEMENT, LOW CYLINDER COMPRESSION, AND FOULING OF THE ENGINE SPARK PLUGS, WHICH RESULTED IN THE LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. FACTORS WERE THE IMPROPER SERVICING OF THE AIRCRAFT, AND THE USE OF AN IMPROPER FUEL GRADE.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record ATL91LA113
Event ID
20001212X17171
Case number
ATL91LA113
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: feb896b2534a177d63a95cc4c3b2943fb90ef0299a82aba4895be76b1044c55b; retrieved 2026-09-23T04:03:35.705Z.