NTSB Factual Report

On August 17, 2001, about 1200 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 182R, N2405E, registered to Excel Services, Inc., dba Safety Aire Flying Association, operating as a Title 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight, crashed in the vicinity of Winder, Georgia. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane received substantial damage, the private pilot-rated student received minor injuries, and the CFI-rated pilot-in-command was seriously injured. The flight was originating from Winder Barrow Airport, Winder, Georgia at the time of the accident.

According to the student pilot, who was receiving instruction for a high-performance endorsement on his private pilot certificate, the flight was executing a takeoff from Winder Barrow Airport, Winder, Georgia, when the engine started making a "terrible racket", and power was lost. The CFI took control of the aircraft, and about 1/4 mile from the departure end of runway 13, the airplane collided with the tops of oak trees and crashed into a grass pasture adjacent to a farm house.

According to an FAA inspector, following tree collision, the aircraft impacted the terrain nose down, causing substantial damage to the airframe. The cowling was crushed, the empennage and fuselage separated about 1 foot behind the rear hat rack, and the outer half of the left wing was crushed. The right wing sustained leading edge and aileron impact damage. The copilot's seat attach points separated from the seat rails. Examination of the propeller revealed the engine was not running at the time of terrain impact. A hole on top of the engine contained a severely misshaped, baseball sized lump of aluminum.

The Teledyne Continental O-470-U engine, S/N 809788, was removed from N2405E, boxed, and shipped to the Teledyne Continental Motors factory for disassembly examination with FAA oversight. According to the TCM Engine Analysis Report, the most obvious condition found was a hole in the right and left crankcase halves above the number one and number two cylinders. The forward section of the oil sump was crushed upward, the rear section was punctured, and its contents contained about 1/2 pint of dark colored oil and pieces of aluminum debris and piston rings from the number two piston. The interior surfaces of the sump revealed a polished and scratched appearance. The oil pickup tube screen, as well as the oil filter, contained metal debris. The six cylinders were not TCM manufactured and had "EC" stamped on the heads with no part numbers stamped on the cylinder flanges. The number two cylinder dome revealed multiple strike damage, and its intake and exhaust valve push rods and push rod tubes were bent. Work order numbers 1448, 73236-06, 7-13-99 were stamped on the number two cylinder skirt. Five of the six pistons and their respective ring sets were intact and undamaged. What had been the number two piston and its rings were reduced to about two hands full of small pieces in addition to the lump found at the crash site. The TCM Engine Analysis Report is an attachment to this report.

According to the TCM Metallurgy Report, binocular microscope inspection of one of the piston pieces revealed a fatigue crack fracture surface emanating from multiple origins at the root of a piston ring groove. Partial remains of machined oil squirt holes adjacent to the underlying ring groove surface indicate it could only be from the number two ring groove position. The Metallurgy Report is an attachment to this report.

NTSB Probable Cause

A total loss of engine power due to fatigue failure of the number two piston immediately after takeoff, resulting in collision with trees and the terrain during an emergency descent.