- Date
- September 7, 1994, 16:00 local (20:00 UTC)
- Place
- Osteen, FL
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N48938Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report November 18, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19940907025889A
- Case key
- 37599
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-in-command's decision to land with excessive airspeed, and failure to obtain the proper touchdown point during a precautionary landing. The electrical short 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 pilot stated he was in cruise flight when he smelled and observed smoke in the cockpit. The pilot entered left downwind at a private airfield and made a precautionary landing, landing long and fast. The airplane ran off the end of the runway. The pilot applied left rudder to avoid a ditch. The airplane collided with a tree, and spun around its vertical axis to the right 180 degrees before coming to a complete stop. Examination of the airplane revealed a melted insulator on the terminal ring connector attached to the oil temperature gauge.
Factual narrative
On September 7, 1994, about 1600 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 152, N48938, registered to Knight Flight Limited, operating as a 14 CFR Part 91 personal flight, crashed on landing roll out at Lessler Field, Osteen, Florida. The airplane sustained substantial damage and the private pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a VFR flight plan was not filed. The flight originated from Sanford, Florida, about 30 minutes before the accident.
The pilot stated he was in cruise flight at about 100 feet agl when he observed and smelled smoke in the cockpit. He looked at the engine instruments and observed the oil temperature gage was redlined. The electrical master switch was turned off, and he made a precautionary landing to a private airfield located at his 12 o'clock position. He landed long and fast. The airplane continued off the end of the runway. He applied left rudder to avoid a ditch, the right wing collided with a tree, and the airplane spun around its vertical axis to the right 180 degrees before coming to a complete stop.
Examination of the airplane by a mechanic revealed a melted insulator on the terminal ring connector attached to the oil temperature gauge.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N48938
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15281060
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Knight Flight Limited
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- SFB · Sanford, FL
- Destination
- OMN · Ormond Beach, FL
- Airport
- Lessler Field, runway 18, 3,000 × 100 ft, grass/turf
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
- 40
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 173 total · 112 in this make and model · 85 as pilot in command · 4 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 70° at 11 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 88 °F, dew point 86 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- SFB, 15 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.