- Date
- February 12, 2016, 10:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Shirley, NY
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Phase of flight
- Landing
- Aircraft
- N47259Cessna 152
- Defining event
- Landing: Landing area undershoot
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 3, 2016
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- General Aviation Accidents
- Parties
- FAA
- FAA report
- 20160212013569A
- Case key
- 92712
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 pilot's failure to maintain adequate terrain clearance while landing, which resulted in a collision with a snow berm, nose gear collapse, and postimpact fire.
Findings · 3
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The pilot reported that on his second landing he felt a "small" impact just before touchdown, and then the airplane pitched down and skidded to a stop. The pilot further reported that after the airplane came to a stop, he observed smoke coming from the lower left side of the cowling just forward of the firewall. As a result of the post-impact fire that ensued, the airplane was destroyed. The pilot reported that he observed evidence of where the airplane's nose wheel impacted a snow berm located on the approach to the runway. He estimated that the snow berm was about five feet high and about twenty feet wide. The airport manager reported that about four inches of snow accumulated on the ground prior to the accident, but that almost all of the snow had been plowed from the runway. He further reported that the accident airplanes nose gear impacted a snow berm that was about 10 feet off the end of the runway, and about 28 inches high. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The pilot reported that on his second landing he felt a "small" impact just before touchdown, and then the airplane pitched down and skidded to a stop. The pilot further reported that after the airplane came to a stop, he observed smoke coming from the lower left side of the cowling just forward of the firewall. As a result of the post-impact fire that ensued, the airplane was destroyed. The pilot reported that he observed evidence of where the airplane's nose wheel impacted a snow berm located on the approach to the runway. He estimated that the snow berm was about five feet high and about twenty feet wide. The airport manager reported that about four inches of snow accumulated on the ground prior to the accident, but that almost all of the snow had been plowed from the runway. He further reported that the accident airplanes nose gear impacted a snow berm that was about 10 feet off the end of the runway, and about 28 inches high. The pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N47259
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15283202
- Built
- 1979
- Airframe hours
- 7,823
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 125 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Fire
- On-Ground
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Mars Aerospace Inc.
- Registered owner
- Mars Aerospace Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 6, 2015
- Departed
- ISP · New York, NY
- Destination
- HWV · Shirley, NY
- Airport
- HWV · Brookhaven, runway 24, 4,200 × 100 ft, asphalt
- Equipment
- Stall warning system
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
- 69
- Injuries
- None
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 3, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- May 1, 2014
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- 3-point
- Flight hours
- 15,000 total · 4,000 in this make and model · 14,700 as pilot in command · 110 in the last 90 days · 40 in the last 30 days · 0.3 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 290° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 19 °F, dew point 3 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.25 inHg
- Observed at
- KHWV, 1 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on April 4, 2016, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 2.4 MB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.