MIA86LA242 · Piper PA-28-140
Piper PA-28-140 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Pompano Beach Airpark (PMP) to Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR)
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA86LA242
- 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
Piper PA-28-140
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-28
- 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
- N6460W
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Pompano Beach Airpark (PMP), Pompano Beach, FLTo Treasure Coast International Airport (FPR), Fort Pierce, FL
- 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
- En route · cruise
- 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 › Overtemperature
- Engine assembly, connecting rod › Disconnected
- Engine assembly, other › Failure, total
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Fort Pierce, FL, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
WHILE IN CRUISE FLT THE ACFT'S ENG FAILED AND THE ACFT WAS DITCHED IN A RIVER. POST CRASH ENG EXAM REVEALED THE NO. 1 AND NO. 2 CONNECTING RODS SEPARATED FROM THE CRANKSHAFT WHEN BOTH BOLTS FAILED ON THE NO. 1 ROD AND 1 BOLT FAILED ON THE NO. 2 ROD. METALLURGICAL EXAM OF THE BOLTS REVEALED THE ROCKWELL HARDNESS OF THE NO. 1 ROD BOLTS VARIED FROM 26 TO 44 AT VARIOUS POINTS AND THE HARDNESS OF THE FAILED NO. 2 ROD BOLT VARIED FROM 41.6 TO 42.2. MICROSTRUCTURE ANALYSIS OF THE FAILED BOLTS INDICATED THE STRUCTURE VARIED FROM PRIMARILY FERRITE NEAR THE LOW HARDNESS AREAS TO PRIMARILY MARTENSITE NEAR THE HIGHER HARDNESS AREAS. THE CHANGE IN MICROSTRUCTURE INDICATES THAT ALTHOUGH BLOCKAGES WERE NOT OBVIOUS IN THE LUBRICATION SYSTEM, THE BOLTS WERE SUBJECTED TO EXCESSIVE HEAT. THE NO. 1 AND NO. 2 CONNECTING ROD CRANKSHAFT JOURNALS INDICATED EVIDENCE OF SCORING AND DARKENING.
Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA86LA242
- Event ID
- 20001213X34557
- Case number
- MIA86LA242
- 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: 9da7c7ccaede242dff1a3c50fd14eae3c230d46aea057b7fbd00d28652e97b21; retrieved 2026-09-23T14:05:19.826Z.