- Date
- June 4, 1990, 10:34 local (15:34 UTC)
- Place
- Mcpherson, KS
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N48642Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 28, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900604021599A
- Case key
- 34991
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
Poor pre-flight and in-flight planning and refueling not performed by the pilot in command.
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
En route to her final destination, during a student, solo, cross-country flight, the pilot said that she was unable to identify her position. She flew by a water tower, identified her location, and corrected her course. Shortly after the engine failed and an emergency landing was attempted in a wheat field which resulted in a nose over. Prior to the emergency she contacted the salina control tower and requested vectors to the nearest landing site. She said that the direction gyro had precessed substantially contributing to her being off course.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N48642
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15283355
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2C, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Gietzen, Mark S
- Departed
- PTT · Pratt, KS
- Destination
- ICT · Wichita, KS
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
- 23
- Certificate
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 49 total · 38 in this make and model · 14 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 330° at 10 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.