Cessna 182G N2056R accident near Manistee, Michigan

Probable cause

The failure of the airplane owner and maintenance personnel to follow the propeller manufacturer's recommend overhaul schedule, which resulted in a fatigue fracture of the propeller blade actuating pin and a loss of thrust in flight.

NTSB analysis

The private pilot was in cruise flight about 2,500 ft mean sea level during a cross-country flight when he noted an engine vibration and loss of power, which he could not remediate. The pilot performed a forced landing to a field, during which the airplane nosed over. Postaccident examination of the engine revealed no mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. One of the two propeller blades was rotated about 90° and was beyond its high pitch limit. The high pitch angle of the blade would have resulted in high drag and/or loss of propulsive thrust.

Disassembly and metallurgical examination of the hub of the rotated propeller revealed that its blade actuating pin had fractured in high-cycle fatigue. According to a manufacturer's service bulletin, the propeller should be overhauled at 1,500 hours or 60 calendar months, whichever occurs first. Propeller logbooks showed that the accident propeller was last overhauled nearly 24 years and over 1,592 hours before the accident. It is likely that compliance with the manufacturer's recommended overhaul schedule would have resulted in the fatigued pin being replaced.

Text from the NTSB. Open the NTSB docket for CEN17LA178 for the full record.