- Date
- November 13, 1995, 14:10 local (19:10 UTC)
- Place
- Norwood, MA
- Injuries
- 2 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N51197Cessna 150J
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 27, 1996
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19951113036489A
- Case key
- 39122
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
the student's inadvertent use of the mixture control and the flight instructor's inadequate supervision during the final approach resulting in the loss of engine power due to fuel starvation and the subsequent nose over during the forced landing.
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
During the final approach, the instructor told the student to reduce engine power. According to the instructor, ' . . . instead of pulling the power back, he pulled the mixture control knob all the (way) back. I failed to catch his mistake in time.' The instructor did a forced landing and the aircraft landed short of the runway and nosed over. The student had 7 hours of total time.
Factual narrative
On November 13, 1995, about 1410 eastern standard time, a Cessna 150J, received substantial damage when it nosed over, during a forced landing, at the Norwood Memorial Airport, Norwood, Massachusetts. The flight instructor and student pilot were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local flight. There was no flight plan for the instructional flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 91.
In the NTSB form 6120.1/2, the flight instructor stated:
...Everything was just fine until short final. We were a little high, so I told my student to decrease the power. Instead of pulling the power back, he pulled the mixture control knob all the [way] back. I failed to catch his mistake in time....I looked at his hand and saw the mixture full lean. I pushed it back in and tried restart....The engine wouldn't [start]....I tried...to glide the plane to the runway but...we were too low and slow....I decided to put the plane down on the grass before the runway....As soon as the nose gear came down...it snapped. When the nose gear snapped, the nose fell and the plane flipped over....
Aircraft
- Registration
- N51197
- Reported as
- Cessna 150J
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15069833
- Airframe hours
- 5,950
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Norwood Air
- Registered owner
- Leanen And Pilgrim Inc DBA
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · October 14, 1995 · 54 hours before
- Departed
- OWD
- Airport
- OWD · Norwood Memorial, runway 35, 4,007 × 150 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
- 21
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 400 total · 70 in this make and model · 280 as pilot in command · 50 in the last 90 days · 20 in the last 30 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 8,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 39 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- OWD
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.