- Date
- February 18, 1994, 10:30 local (16:30 UTC)
- Place
- La Crosse, WI
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N704CECessna 150M
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 14, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19940218006209A
- Case key
- 9472
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 exhaust valve in the number one cylinder. The lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing was a factor in the accident.
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 flight instructor and student were practicing steep turns when the airplane's engine lost all power. The flight instructor made a forced landing on a snow covered field. The airplane nosed over during the landing roll. Investigation disclosed a fractured exhaust valve in the number one cylinder.
Factual narrative
On February 18, 1994, about 1030 central standard time, a Cessna 150 airplane, N704CE, sustained substantial damage following a loss of engine power and forced landing in a field near La Crosse, Wisconsin. The certificated flight instructor and student pilot aboard were not injured. The local instructional flight operated under 14 CFR Part 91 without flight plan in visual meteorological conditions. The flight departed Winona, Minnesota, about 1000.
In a statement made to the FAA, the flight instructor states he and his student were practicing steep turns when they experienced a complete loss of engine power. A forced landing was initiated onto a snow covered field. After touchdown the airplane nosed over and came to rest inverted.
Postaccident examination of the engine revealed the exhaust valve in the number one cylinder had fractured.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N704CE
- Reported as
- Cessna 150M
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15078498
- Airframe hours
- 7,552
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Certified Flight Inc.
- Registered owner
- B2w Corporation
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · November 3, 1993 · 96 hours before
- Departed
- ONA · Winona, MN
- Destination
- ONA · MN
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
- 25
- Certificates
- Commercial, Flight instructor
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 1,061 total · 686 in this make and model · 914 as pilot in command · 62 in the last 90 days · 33 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 180° at 6 knots, gusting 20
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 48 °F, dew point 36 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.00 inHg
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.