- Date
- April 15, 1989, 17:00 local (21:00 UTC)
- Place
- Gratis, OH
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N757HJCessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 15, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890415008079A
- Case key
- 8016
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The foreign material (bird nest) in the engine compartment, and failure of the dual student or instructor pilot (CFI) to identify and remove it during their preflight inspection of the aircraft. Soft terrain in the emergency landing area and smoke from the engine compartment were factors.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The instructor plt (CFI) rprtd he elected to make a precautionary landing after he smelled smoke in the cockpit. Drg the landing, the acft encountered soft dirt & nosed over, damaging the vertical stabilizer. An exam of the eng revealed there was a bird's nest in the vicinity of the #2 & #3 cylinders. No evidence of any other possible source of smoke or fire was found. According to an FAA inspector, who examined the acft, the nest was partially hidden, but it could have been seen drg a preflight inspection with adequate lighting. Both the CFI & student had preflighted the acft, but neither saw the bird's nest.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N757HJ
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15279750
- Airframe hours
- 2,793
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Mullins Aviation, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Howard, Ernie F.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 24, 1988 · 51 hours before
- Departed
- I44 · Dayton, OH
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 34
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 2,280 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
- Observed at
- DAY
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.