After suffering a significant engine vibration the pilot of a PA28 elected to proceed to other than ...

Attributes
ACN	825710
Time
Date	200902
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-28 Cherokee/Archer/Dakota/Pillan/Warrior
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Plan	VFR
Aircraft 2
Flight Phase	Cruise
Component
Aircraft Component	Reciprocating Engine Assembly
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 45 Flight Crew Total 205
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

Narrative:

I was in command of a piper archer ii that experienced an abrupt shake of the airplane. Preflight; run-up; takeoff and leveloff to cruise were uneventful. Shortly after canceling flight following; I noticed I had a problem. I immediately advised approach of the situation and requested clearance to re-enter class C airspace. Although I had ZZZ1 nearby; I chose to continue to ZZZ for multiple reasons: ZZZ1 was not equipped with personnel to provide emergency services should they have been needed. ZZZ1 was unattended. ZZZ1 is an airport surrounded by residential communities. ZZZ1 runway length is 1;900 ft. I instead chose to continue to ZZZ for all of the above reasons. Having control of the airplane; I was confident that I could make the airport. Upon further inspection of the airplane it was revealed that the cylinder bolts had sheared off (5 out of 8).

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: After suffering a significant engine vibration the pilot of a PA28 elected to proceed to other than the nearest suitable airport due to minimal assets at the nearest.

Narrative: I was in command of a Piper Archer II that experienced an abrupt shake of the airplane. Preflight; run-up; takeoff and leveloff to cruise were uneventful. Shortly after canceling flight following; I noticed I had a problem. I immediately advised Approach of the situation and requested clearance to re-enter Class C airspace. Although I had ZZZ1 nearby; I chose to continue to ZZZ for multiple reasons: ZZZ1 was not equipped with personnel to provide emergency services should they have been needed. ZZZ1 was unattended. ZZZ1 is an airport surrounded by residential communities. ZZZ1 runway length is 1;900 FT. I instead chose to continue to ZZZ for all of the above reasons. Having control of the airplane; I was confident that I could make the airport. Upon further inspection of the airplane it was revealed that the cylinder bolts had sheared off (5 out of 8).

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.