ERA12LA071 · SIAI-Marchetti S205-22R
SIAI-Marchetti S205-22R · Accident: loss of engine power (partial) during initial climb
From River Acres Airport (FD70) to North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport (F45)
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA12LA071
- 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
SIAI-Marchetti S205-22R
- Aircraft type
- Siai Marchetti S205
- 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
- N729WA
- Operator
- Orlandi Charles R III · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From River Acres Airport (FD70), Okeechobee, FLTo North Palm Beach County General Aviation Airport (F45), Palm Beach, 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
- Defining eventThe 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
- Loss of engine power (partial)
- 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
- Aircraft › Aircraft power plant
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
According to the pilot, during climbout, the engine lost partial power and was running rough. The pilot was unable to restore the engine to full power and made a forced landing in a river. Examination and partial disassembly of the engine revealed that the alternator drive adaptor did not function, the alternator drive gear exhibited extensive wear, and the gear teeth were smeared. The alternator drive bearings were not present, and metal particles were found throughout the oil system in the engine. In addition, the engine alternator drive belt that was driven by the engine was not located and the alternator adjustment was on the maximum setting. According to the engine maintenance log, the alternator was replaced by the pilot/owner and was signed off by an airframe and powerplant mechanic. The airplane had accumulated 2 hours of flight time since the alternator was replaced by the pilot/owner. It is likely that the added pressure to the crankshaft from the alternator drive shaft and the metal in the engine resulted in the engine losing partial power.
Probable cause
A partial loss of engine power due to a failure of the drive bearings in the alternator drive system. Contributing to the accident was the inadequate maintenance.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record ERA12LA071
- Event ID
- 20111114X64446
- Case number
- ERA12LA071
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: 54f1d4ab031ae039ffe9ff4190d9fbe84df210ba802015b4beddd7f485615e3d; retrieved 2026-09-15T16:55:57.526Z.