A Maine family was minding their own business the other night when an unwelcome guest entered their home. That guest turned out to be the wrist pin from an airplane engine that suffered a mechanical failure about 1,500 feet above their house. According to a newspaper report, a flight instructor and a student took off on a lesson and then experienced engine trouble before making an emergency landing at Bangor International Airport. When the guys got to the ground they noticed that one of the cylinder bores had split in half apparently launching the piston and rod assembly into the sky.
If the wrist pin could gain enough steam to smash through the shingles, roof, ceiling, and half way through the floor of this house, imagine what a connecting rod or piston would have done! As odd as it is to say, we’re kind of surprised that these stories do not happen more often with the amount of commercial and private airplane traffic floating around the country on a day to day basis. The fact that we don’t hear more of this stuff is a pretty good testament to the rules and diligence surrounding airplanes in this country. In a recent conversation this very topic came up and the consensus was that while we don’t do a lot of stuff very well these days, airplane safety is pretty locked down.
The maintenance officer for the flying group that owns the plane was quoted in the story saying that the engine in the Cessna 172 was “probably” getting close to its overhaul schedule. The FAA will do a thorough investigation on this incident as data could be useful on making adjustments to said overhaul schedule if this issue was caused by a stress defect in the engine that needs to be replaced sooner than is currently thought.
The good news is that no one was hurt, aside from some shingles, drywall, and plywood. As there is a fair amount of air traffic over BangShift eastern world HQ, we’ve dispersed helmets to everyone in the house. Hey…did you just hear something? DUCK!
Thanks to Barry for the tip!
LINK: Wrist Pin Crashes Through Maine Roof
Well, it could be worse. A pal who’s a commercial pilot says the ground crews are reluctant to really make sure the honey valve is closed. When it’s not secure honey icicles form outside the aircraft at high altitude, eventually breaking off and doing what the wrist pin did. No way to trace the offending airliner either.