- Date
- May 1, 2002, 08:55 local (12:55 UTC)
- Place
- Moneta, VA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Taxi
- Aircraft
- N5198DCessna 182A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 8, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20020501018379A
- Case key
- 54623
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
A slow leak of brake fluid from the right brake cylinder, which eventually resulted in a loss of right brake effectiveness.
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 student pilot had just landed, and made a left turn onto the "teardrop" taxiway. The right brake failed, and the airplane departed the taxiway, went into a ditch, and nosed over. Post-accident examination revealed that the right brake cylinder was out of fluid, and other than a small amount of fluid up on the cylinder shaft, there were no holes or leaks noted. The brake system had been last checked about 4 1/2 months earlier, during the airplane's latest annual inspection.
Factual narrative
On May 1, 2002, at 0855 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 182A, N5198D, was substantially damaged while taxiing after landing at Smith Mountain Lake Airport (W91), Moneta, Virginia. The certificated student pilot was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and no flight plan was filed for the solo instructional flight from a private airstrip in Rocky Mount, Virginia, that was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
According to the student pilot, he had just landed on runway 23. He made a left turn onto the "teardrop" taxiway, to back taxi down runway 05, when the right brake failed. The airplane then departed the taxiway, went into a ditch, and nosed over.
An examination of the airplane after the accident by a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector revealed that the right brake cylinder was out of fluid, and other than a small amount of fluid up on the cylinder shaft, there were no holes or leaks noted.
According to the airplane's maintenance logbook, new wheels and brakes were installed on October 10, 1999. There was also a "check brakes" notation, dated December 22, 2001, as part of the logbook entry for the airplane's latest annual inspection.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N5198D
- Reported as
- Cessna 182A
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 51298
- Airframe hours
- 2,249.4
- Engine
- Continental O-470-L, 230 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Selby G. Venning
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · December 22, 2001 · 40.1 hours before
- Departed
- NONE · Rocky Mount, VA
- Destination
- W91 · Moneta, VA
- Airport
- W91 · Smith Mountain Lake, runway 23, 3,058 × 50 ft, asphalt
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
- Student pilot
- Age
- 50
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 56 total · 38 in this make and model · 56 as pilot in command
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,500 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 55 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.93 inHg
- Observed at
- LYH, 25 nm away
Docket · 3
The files NTSB released with the investigation on December 30, 2002, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 515 KB 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.