N9148Y

On May 4, 2008, at 1400 eastern daylight time, an experimental amateur-built Airaile, S-12 XL; N9148Y, crashed during a forced landing after losing power while turning to base leg for runway 35 at the Lexington County Airport, in Pelion, South Carolina. The instructor pilot in the right seat reported serious injuries and no injuries to the student pilot in the left seat. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and the 14 CFR Part 91 instructional flight was not operating on a flight plan. The flight had departed about 5 minutes prior to the accident.

The right seat instructor pilot reported in the recommendations section of the pilot report that you should never reduce the power on a two-stroke engine. The right seat instructor also said that the left seat student pilot, who had all the time in the airplane, should have instructed him not to do the power reduction. Post accident inspection of the engine did not disclose any pre-accident anomalies with the engine. A Federal Aviation Inspector reported that the rear cylinder of this model engine will seize if the engine is throttled back in flight.