SEA91LA227

1991-09-01 · CHEHALIS, Washington, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport CLS

Aircraft involved

N91736 North American NAVION A Serious

Probable cause & findings

TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER ON INITIAL TAKEOFF CLIMB DUE TO THE FATIGUE FRACTURE OF THE NUMBER ONE PISTON CONNECTING ROD RESULTING IN A FORCED LANDING AND IN FLIGHT COLLISION WITH TREES.

Factual narrative

JUST AFTER RETRACTING THE GEAR ON TAKEOFF, THE PILOT HEARD A LOUD BANG IN THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT, AND EXPERIENCED A TOTAL LOSS OF ENGINE POWER. THE PILOT, WHO WAS APPROXIMATELY 200 FFET ABOVE THE RUNWAY WHEN THE ENGINE FAILED, MADE A FORCED LANDING JUST OFF THE END OF THE RUNWAY, DURING THE FLARE THE AIRCRAFT IMPACTED NUMEROUS YOUNG CHRISTMAS TREES. LATER INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE NUMBER ONE PISTON CONNECTING ROD HAD FRACTURED. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1991_SEA91LA227.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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