Cessna 150L N19521

Summary

On 18 March 2008 at about 17:55 local time, a Cessna 150L registered N19521, operated by Arizona Aviation, was involved in an accident near Mesa, Arizona, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

18 March 2008 at 17:55

Classification

Accident

Location

Mesa, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Falcon Field (FFZ)

Coordinates

33.4608, -111.7283

Aircraft

Cessna 150L

Registration

N19521

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Arizona Aviation

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mesa → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX08LA077

2 people had minor injuries.

A partial loss of engine power for undetermined reasons.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The engine lost partial power during the initial take off climb. The certified flight instructor (CFI) applied full carburetor heat and full rich mixture. The airplane did not produce enough power to maintain level flight, and the CFI landed the airplane straight ahead, colliding with trees. An inspection revealed a rubber-like material in the crankcase split line. The mixture control bottomed out before reaching the full idle stop. The spark plugs had dark sooty deposits, and the cylinder heads, piston tops, and valves all had slightly above-normal deposits. The engine ran without anomalies at different ranges of power during postaccident testing. The number one bottom spark plug, which was connected to the left magneto, did not produce a spark when the propeller was rotated by hand. The spark plug was dark and coated in oil. A compression test disclosed that the number four cylinder compression ring gaps were in the same location on the piston, causing blow-by and pressurization of the crankcase. There were also several cylinder base studs that were of an improper size.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.