- Date
- October 7, 1989, 11:50 local (15:50 UTC)
- Place
- Sterling, MA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N69169Cessna 152
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 30, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19891007039419A
- Case key
- 36564
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
Inflight loss of control due to inadvertent retraction of the wing flaps during a go around.
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 in the Cessna 152, returned for landing. He was landing on runway 34 with a variable crosswind from 340-250 degrees at 10-15 knots. He said he had landing flaps (30 degrees) and then started to drift right. He said he added full power for a go around, tried to retract the wing flaps to 20 degrees, however, they came up all the way and the aircraft stalled, striking the runway in a nose low attitude.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N69169
- Reported as
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15282523
- Engine
- Lycoming O-235-L2A, 110 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Fuller Aviation, Inc.
- Registered owner
- Fuller Aviation Corp
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Destination
- 3B3
- Airport
- 3B3 · Sterling, runway 34, 3,010 × 40 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
- Pilot
- Age
- 26
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Flight hours
- 48 total · 48 in this make and model · 21 as pilot in command · 34 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Variable at 10 knots, gusting 15
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 39 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.