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MIA06IA110 · Cessna 172S

23 May 2006 · St. Augustine, FL, United States

Epic Aviation Cessna 172S · Incident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) during initial climb

From Northeast Florida Regional Airport (KSGJ) to New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport (KEVB)

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Event

NTSB case
MIA06IA110
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 172S

Aircraft type
Cessna 172
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
N1130T
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Northeast Florida Regional Airport (KSGJ), St. Augustine, FLTo New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport (KEVB), New Smyrna Bch, 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
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
Minor

Cause areas

  • Engine assembly, crankshaft › Separation
  • Fluid, oil › Flow restricted
  • Manufacturer › Maintenance, improper

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 experienced a loss of engine power due to failure of the crankshaft and separation of the propeller and propeller flange during the initial climb shortly after takeoff. The pilot reversed course and landed on a taxiway at the departure airport without further incident. At the time of the event, the airplane and engine had accumulated a total time of 399.3 hours. Metallurgical examination determined that the crankshaft separation was the result of a lubrication failure at the #2 main bearing. The lubrication failure then allowed excessive friction to overheat the bearing journal on the crankshaft producing ladder cracks in the surface and at the oil transfer hole. These cracks in turn initiated torsional fatigue cracks that ultimately lead to the separation of the crankshaft. The root cause of the lubrication failure was likely the result of intermittent oil flow to the bearing or of improper assembly (fitting) of the bearing shells to the crankshaft. Considering that the other bearings did not show distress and the short time since engine assembly, it is more likely that an assembly issue was the cause. No preexisting metallurgical or mechanical discrepancies were found with the crankshaft.

Probable cause

The loss of engine power due to separation of the crankshaft as a result of lack of adequate oil lubrication to the #2 main bearing. The lack of oil lubrication was most likely the result of improper assembly (fitting) of the bearing shells to the crankshaft.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA06IA110
Event ID
20060524X00614
Case number
MIA06IA110
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: 3405ee23e703433caf879fb640b922ba26ee414faf2603f1c2f93fd1713e05ca; retrieved 2026-09-22T04:53:49.611Z.