2 small planes involved in Pa. crashes had same engine manufacturer, records show

Two recent plane emergencies in the region are drawing attention to a common factor — the engines in both aircraft were made by the same manufacturer, and both were subject to a recent FAA safety warning — as federal officials move to address a potential safety concern.

Within days of each other, two small aircraft experienced trouble mid-flight. One made an emergency landing on Interstate 78 in Lehigh County on April 4 while the other crashed in a field after hitting a tree in Northeast Philadelphia on April 1, injuring two people.

“We’re having a little engine problem,” the pilot said in a radio transmission in the Northeast Philadelphia incident.

The pilot involved in the I-78 incident reported a “partial loss of power” to air traffic control.

The exact causes of both incidents remain under investigation.

However, an NBC10 review of Federal Aviation Administration records found both planes were equipped with engines made by Lycoming, a major manufacturer based in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The investigators found the FAA issued an airworthiness directive affecting dozens of Lycoming engine models — including the types used in both aircraft.

An airworthiness directive, or AD, is similar to a recall for aircraft parts. The FAA issues them when it identifies a potential safety issue that must be addressed.

According to the directive, the action was prompted by “several reports of connecting rod failures resulting in uncontained engine failures and in-flight shutdowns.”

Although the directive was released in March, it did not require action until April 8 — days after the two local incidents.

Because investigations into both emergencies are ongoing, it is not yet clear whether the issue outlined in the directive played a role. Still, officials say the overlap raises important questions.

“Anytime that we see a trend, or if the FAA sees a trend, we’re going to start to connect those dots to see if there’s some sort of broader safety issue that can be addressed,” said Peter Knudsen, a spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

This is the third airworthiness directive related to connecting rods in Lycoming engines. An earlier directive in 2017 applied to hundreds of engines while the latest expands the scope to potentially more than 45,000 aircraft.

Aviation attorney and safety expert Arthur Wolk said the growing scope is concerning.

“They’re gradually enlarging it, which is troublesome because that means they don’t have a good handle on how many engines were affected and how many engines might be affected,” Wolk said.

He added that certain metal failures could cause engines to stop abruptly in flight — a serious hazard.

“Certain kinds of metal can be associated with the kind of failure they’re talking about. They can cause the engine just to have a hard stop, meaning quit cold. That’s very serious,” Wolk said.

Aircraft mechanics say the issue can sometimes be detected during routine maintenance.

“We take a magnet and we drag it on top anything ferrous and then we take a real bright light – like the LEDs you have — to look, see anything glittering,” said mechanic Billy O’Hara. “That’s part of the inspection.”

O’Hara said mechanics are alerted to new or updated directives when logging maintenance work, but ultimately, compliance responsibility falls on aircraft operators.

“It’s going to come down to the mechanic. If he missed an AD, he missed the AD,” he said.

NBC10 reached out to Lycoming for comment. The company said it could not discuss ongoing FAA and NTSB investigations but added it “continues to support the FAA and NTSB in these processes” and expects findings to be released in due course.

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.

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