- Date
- August 13, 1990, 11:30 local (15:30 UTC)
- Place
- Ridge Spring, SC
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N66068Cessna 172
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 28, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900813033019A
- Case key
- 8263
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 failure of the maintenance facility/owner to follow standard preventive maintenance procedures. A factor was the pilot's failure to extend the flaps during the forced landing.
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 pilot was established at cruise when he heard a loud bang. Shortly afterward, the engine quit. The pilot selected an open field for the emergency landing. After clearing a tree line the pilot made a normal touchdown. During the landing roll the nose gear collided with a ditch, and the airplane nosed over. The nose gear collapsed. The engine examination found no.4 exhaust valve stuck and the push rod/housing assemblies were displaced from their normal positions. The engine was 345 hours over the suggested overhaul time in service when the valve stuck. The pilot also failed to extend the wing flaps during the emergency procedure.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N66068
- Reported as
- Cessna 172
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17275958
- Airframe hours
- 2,345
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-D2J, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Mmb Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · June 24, 1990 · 95 hours before
- Departed
- CAE · Columbia, SC
- Destination
- 48J · Thomson, GA
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
- 29
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 1,500 total · 370 in this make and model · 1,439 as pilot in command · 156 in the last 90 days · 61 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 220° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 7 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 79 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- CAE, 30 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.