IAD01LA046 · Piper PA-32R-300
Piper PA-32R-300 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Charlottesville Albemarle Airport (CHO) to Delaware Coastal Airport (GED)
Event
- NTSB case
- IAD01LA046
- 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
- Unknown
- 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-32R-300
- Aircraft type
- Piper PA-32
- 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
- N40066
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Charlottesville Albemarle Airport (CHO), Charlottesville, VATo Delaware Coastal Airport (GED), Georgetown, DE
- 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, cylinder › Loose part/bolt/nut/clamp/etc
- Miscellaneous, bolt/nut/fastener/clamp/spring › Fatigue
- Terrain condition › None suitable
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The airplane was in cruise flight at 3,500 feet in the vicinity of the Potomac River when the airplane experienced a partial loss of engine power. The pilot said he checked the magnetos and engine controls, and experienced a slight restoration of power when he adjusted the mixture. Within 3 minutes, there was a total loss of engine power. The pilot turned away from the river, and performed a forced landing to a farm pasture. Examination of the airplane at the scene revealed that the # 3 cylinder was loose on the crankcase, and the number 3 intake tube was not installed, and rested in the bottom of the engine compartment. The #3 exhaust riser was found separated at the flange. The flange was found loose, as the two nuts were not tight, with one nut having no washer or lock washer installed. Further examination revealed the 2 case studs and 2 thru studs along the bottom of the # 3 cylinder were broken off. The cylinder was removed and visually examined. The cylinder skirt exhibited chafing and scratching. There was corresponding scratching to the cylinder case pad material. Examination of the fractured cylinder studs revealed fracture surfaces with features consistent with fatigue. The engine was overhauled 14 years and 917 flight hours prior to the accident, and no cylinders had been removed during that time. The engine manufacturer recommended that the engine be overhauled every 2,000 hours or 12 years, whichever occurred first.
Probable cause
The failure of cylinder case and thru studs due to fatigue, which resulted in a loss of engine power over unsuitable terrain.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record IAD01LA046
- Event ID
- 20010430X00833
- Case number
- IAD01LA046
- 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, coordinates. 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: 8d78247392403491857d056fc3c579e33dc3b0321cb630f6e67480e97ad3e3f1; retrieved 2026-09-21T19:58:38.928Z.