- Date
- March 6, 1989, 11:30 local (16:30 UTC)
- Place
- Townsend, DE
- Injuries
- 1 fatal
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Unknown
- Aircraft
- N24236Cessna 152
- Weather
- Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 10, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890306003109A
- Case key
- 11453
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
Loss of aircraft control for unknown reasons.
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 acft was owned & piloted by a non-certificated plt with terminal cancer, who was not eligible for an FAA med cert. Workers saw the acft takeoff at aprx 1030 EST. About 1 hr later, a nearby resident heard what she believed was an eng 'missing' & went 'outside,' but did not see anything. She went back 'inside' & heard a loud noise (believed to be the the acft crashing). She went 'outside' again, but still did not see anything. Soon thereafter, the acft was observed where it had crashed beside the apch end of rwy 36 at the plt's pvt strip. There was evidence it had crashed in a steep nose down, wings level attitude. The acft was extensively damaged drg impact. No preimpact part failure or malfunction of the acft or eng was found. About 20 mi se at dover afb, the wx was in part: 500' scattered, 900' broken, vis 2 mi with fog & rain. Freezing rain & snw bgn falling shortly after the acdnt. The plt's brother believed the acft iced up. The owner/plt was suffering fm the end stage of larynx cancer with complications of anemia & hemoptysis.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N24236
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 80166
- Airframe hours
- 3,781
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Ervin S. Miller
- Registered owner
- Ervin S Miller
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · September 1, 1989 · 9 hours before
- Airport
- Pvt Strip, runway 36, 1,250 × 50 ft, dirt
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
- 57
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
Weather
- Conditions
- Day
- Wind
- 40° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 2 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 900 ft broken
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- AFB, 20 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.
Other investigations on N24236 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.