- Date
- August 25, 1989, 19:45 local (23:45 UTC)
- Place
- Northeast, PA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N50294Cessna 150H
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report January 23, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890825032199A
- Case key
- 36469
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 power loss due to an over-rich engine for undetermined reasons. The combination of an over-rich running engine and the pilot's pumping of the throttle during the recovery attempt caused the engine to flood.
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 left seat pilot was preparing for his biennial flight review. After takeoff, at 800FT AGL, the right seat pilot induced a power loss using the mixture. When the mixture was returned to rich by the right seat pilot, the pilot in the left seat pumped the throttle. Power was not regained and an off-airport landing was made in a grape vineyard. Post-crash examination showed the engine would run o.k. at full power. However, if a mixture cut was allowed to drop below 1500 RPM, it would not recover when the mixture was put back to rich. The exhaust stacks exhibited extreme rich mixture burn color. The carb float level or metering jets may have been out of tolerance.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N50294
- Reported as
- Cessna 150H
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15069204
- Airframe hours
- 2,880
- Engine
- Teledyne Cont O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Moorheadville Flying Club
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Unknown · April 6, 1989
- Airport
- PAV8 · Moorhead
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
- 27
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 118 total · 118 in this make and model · 107 as pilot in command · 5 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 60° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 20 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 75 °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.