NYC01IA211 · Cessna 210L
Cessna 210L · Incident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Washington Manassas Harry P. Davis Field (HEF) to McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC01IA211
- 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
- Incident
- 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
Cessna 210L
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 210
- 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
- N732JT
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Washington Manassas Harry P. Davis Field (HEF), Manassas, VATo McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS), Knoxville, TN
- 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
- Minor
Cause areas
- Engine assembly, piston › Inadequate
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, replacement, improper
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot experienced a catastrophic engine failure while in cruise flight and performed a forced landing to an airport. Examination of the engine revealed a three inch hole in the engine case, adjacent to the number 2 cylinder. The airplane had been operated for about 4 hours since the number 1 and 2 cylinder and piston assemblies were replaced by a maintenance facility in Knoxville, Tennessee. A teardown of the engine revealed a separated number 2 connecting rod and significant damage to the number 2 piston and cylinder. Examination revealed heavy longitudinal scoring and metal transfer on the number 2 cylinder bore and the inboard edge of the barrel was deformed consistent with connecting rod contact. The inboard end of the number 2 connecting rod was fractured in two locations adjacent to the rod bearing area, and the surrounding area was discolored consistent with extreme localized heating. The connecting rod bolt fragment showed tensile elongation along with surface and fracture features consistent with an elevated temperature overstress separation. The crowns of both pistons indicated that they were manufactured by Superior Air Parts and were 0.010 inch oversize (P010) in diameter; however, diameter measurements made on each piston at various datum points revealed that the number 2 piston was closer in size to a standard size piston and did not contained any measurable dimensions within the P010 limits. Overall, the number 1 piston measurements tended to be closer to the P010 dimensions, and contained two locations that were in the P010 limits. Hardness measurements taken from both pistons were below the specified range for a new piston. The cylinder assemblies were supplied by an aviation facility in El Reno, Oklahoma, which used "serviceable parts." The specific service history of the pistons and piston pins could not be determined. The owner of aviation facility stated that they did not check the "piston skirt clearance" and expected the installer to check the skirt clearance per the Teledyne Continental Motors (TCM) Overhaul Manual, at the time of the installation. According to maintenance facility in Tennessee, the cylinders were installed per the TCM Overhaul Manual.
Probable cause
Improper maintenance which resulted in the installation of an unserviceable piston assembly, and the subsequent catastrophic engine failure. Factors in this accident were the improper inspection by the piston supplier and the softening of the piston.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC01IA211
- Event ID
- 20010820X01727
- Case number
- NYC01IA211
- 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: 6e1fffc1529784ac6b108eb2f9cb9f1d274bedb65f5a6d558987670bfbb905e6; retrieved 2026-09-22T11:39:25.110Z.