- Date
- October 31, 1992, 17:53 local (22:53 UTC)
- Place
- Mt. Gilead, OH
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N6402SCessna 150H
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 14, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19921031044449A
- Case key
- 37267
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
Pilot incapacitation due to carbon monoxide gas as a result of cracks in the heater muffler. A factor in the accident was the progressive deterioration of the left heater muffler.
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 was in radio contact with the control tower at the destination airport and in a descent from five thousand feet to two thousand feet in preparation for landing. Seven miles south of the airport, the airplane was observed, on radar, flying away from the airport when radar contact was lost. Ground witnesses saw the airplane flying straight and level at a low altitude over a wooded area when the left wing struck a tree. A toxicology on the pilot revealed carbon monoxide in the pilot's blood. Examination of the left heater/exhaust muffler, the source of heat to the cabin, showed it had deteriorated and had three cracks. Two cracks where found on the muffler tube and one on the forward end plate. The three cracks were intergranular and showed some oxidation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N6402S
- Reported as
- Cessna 150H
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15067202
- Airframe hours
- 6,108
- Engine
- Continental O-200A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- George Wharton
- Registered owner
- George Wharton
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- 100 hour · October 8, 1992 · 15 hours before
- Departed
- I78 · Marysville, OH
- Destination
- I78
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 45
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 39 total · 39 in this make and model · 9 as pilot in command · 18 in the last 90 days · 4 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 360° at 7 knots
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 52 °F, dew point 36 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.