| Crash location | 36.682223°N, 76.601667°W |
| Nearest city | Suffolk, VA
36.728205°N, 76.583562°W 3.3 miles away |
| Tail number | N8745S |
|---|---|
| Accident date | 07 Feb 2004 |
| Aircraft type | Cessna 150F |
| Additional details: | None |
On February 7, 2004, at 1100 eastern standard time, a Cessna 150F, N8745S, was substantially damaged during a forced landing after a total loss of engine power while departing from the Suffolk Municipal Airport (SFQ), Suffolk, Virginia. The certificated private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the personal local flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
According to the pilot, the airplane was climbing from the airport, when the engine lost total power. The pilot performed a forced landing to a wooded area, where the airplane collided with trees, and subsequently descended to the ground.
Examination of the engine by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed that the number four cylinder had separated at the mid-point on the barrel.
The cylinder was removed from the engine case, and forwarded to the Safety Board's Materials Laboratory in Washington, D.C. for further examination.
According to the Materials Laboratory Factual Report, the barrel had a nearly circumferential fracture between the eighth and eleventh cooling fins. A large portion of the fracture was on a slant plane indicative of overstress, but approximately 90 degrees of the circumference of the fracture was on irregular planes, with some portions on a flat plane perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder. Fracture features emanated from a relatively smooth portion of the fracture surface on the exhaust side of the barrel. The smooth fracture features, with curving boundaries, emanated from an origin at the outer diameter of the barrel in the radius between the ninth and tenth cooling fins. The fracture features with curving crack arrest lines were consistent with fatigue. The fatigue features extended through approximately 90 degrees of arc around the circumference. Closer views of the fatigue origin on the engine side of the fracture revealed that the fatigue features emanated from a corrosion pit at the outer diameter. The pit was 0.0070 inch wide at the surface and was 0.0008 inch deep.
The engine was overhauled in September 1994, which included the installation of the number four cylinder. The engine had accumulated about 800 hours of total operation since the overhaul.
The failure of the number four cylinder barrel due to fatigue which originated from a corrosion pit at the base of a cooling fin.