Cessna 172 N9619H

Summary

On 3 September 2022 at about 20:35 local time, a Cessna 172 registered N9619H was involved in an accident near Clearfield, Pennsylvania, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

3 September 2022 at 20:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Clearfield, Pennsylvania, United States

Nearest airport

Clearfield-Lawrence Airport (FIG)

Coordinates

41.0491, -78.4152

Aircraft

Cessna 172

Registration

N9619H

Category

Airplane

Year built

1975

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Unknown → Henderson

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA22LA411

Nobody was injured.

A sudden partial loss of engine power for undetermined reasons, which resulted in an off-airport landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During initial climb, about 300 ft above ground level, the airplane’s engine began shaking and lost partial power. The pilot lowered the nose and saw that the airplane was still over the runway but too close to the end to land on the remaining runway. He made a “hard” left turn in an attempt to land on the runway in the opposite direction. He also turned the fuel selector to off in preparation for an off-airport impact. The engine subsequently lost all power (due to the fuel being turned off), and the airplane impacted a field, coming to rest upright in a wooded area at the edge of the field. A postaccident compression check performed when the engine was cold revealed no compression on the No. 1 cylinder and low compression on the No. 3 cylinder; however, the engine was subsequently started and run at idle power, with no anomalies noted. After shutdown, removal of the Nos. 1 and 3 cylinders revealed scoring on the No. 1 piston skirt and cylinder wall. The scoring was consistent with material entering the cylinder as a result of tappet to camshaft wearing, which also would have affected the intake and exhaust valves opening and closing properly. While this condition may have reduced the engine’s ability to produce full takeoff power; it would not have resulted in the sudden loss of engine performance described by the pilot. Given the engine’s subsequent normal operation postaccident, the reason for the partial loss of engine power could not be determined.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.