CEN23LA027

The pilot of the personal flight stated that while the airplane was in cruise flight, he felt a pop or shudder. The airplane began to shake, and oil began to cover the windshield. The airplane lost engine power and the pilot then performed a forced landing to a field, during which it struck a fence. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings. Postaccident examination of the engine revealed that the engine’s No. 2 cylinder head was cracked. There were no other mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal airplane operation.

On November 5, 2022, about 0821 mountain daylight time, a Cessna R172E, N6051U, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Aguilar, Colorado. The private pilot was uninjured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The pilot stated that he climbed the airplane from 9,000 ft mean sea level (msl) to 10,000 ft msl to overfly Raton Pass and Fischer Peak, Colorado. He encountered wind shear and high turbulence and simultaneously felt a pop or shudder. The airplane started to shake, and oil began to cover the windshield. He then performed a forced landing to a field, during which the airplane struck a fence. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings. Postaccident examination of the engine by a Federal Aviation Administration inspector revealed that the engine’s No. 2 cylinder head was cracked. The cylinder head and barrel assembly, with 358.9 hours since new, was manufactured by Engine Components International and was subject to airworthiness directive (AD) 2009-26-12, which requires initial and repetitive visual inspections and compression tests to detect cracks at the head-to-barrel interface. The last cylinder compression check was performed in July 2022 and its pressure tested at 70 psi. There were no other mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal airplane operation.