NYC95LA051 · Cessna 152
Sky Bright Cessna 152 · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route
From Laconia Municipal Airport (LCI) to Concord Municipal Airport (CON)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC95LA051
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Cessna 152
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 152
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N6182P
- Operator
- Sky Bright
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Laconia Municipal Airport (LCI), Laconia, NHTo Concord Municipal Airport (CON), Concord, NH
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 91: General Aviation
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- En route · climb to cruise
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Airframe, component or system failure
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Engine assembly › Blocked(total)
- Pilot in command › Ice/frost removal from aircraft, not performed
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Belmont, NH, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE PILOT STATED THAT MORNING THE TEMPERATURE WAS -4 DEGREES F. THE AIRPLANE WAS KEPT IN AN UNHEATED HANGER AND WAS EQUIPPED WITH AN E-Z HEAT AIRPLANE ENGINE HEATER SYSTEM. ABOUT 5 MINUTES AFTER TAKEOFF DURING THE CLIMB AT APPROXIMATELY 2200 FEET HE NOTICED A HIGH OIL PRESSURE INDICATION, OIL SPRAYING ON THE WINDSHIELD AND SMOKE ENTERING THE COCKPIT. THE PILOT STATED, 'NOT KNOWING THE EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE AND THINKING I MAY HAVE AN ENGINE FIRE I CHOSE TO MAKE AN OFF AIRPORT LANDING.' DURING THE EMERGENCY LANDING THE AIRPLANE STRUCK A SNOW COVERED ROCK AND NOSED OVER. FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION POST ACCIDENT EXAMINATION REVEALED OIL CAME OUT THROUGH THE NOSE SEAL AND THE CRANKCASE BREATHER LINE WAS PLUGGED WITH ICE. FAA ADVISORY CIRCULAR 91-13C, DATED JULY 7, 1979 STATED '...SPECIAL CARE IS RECOMMENDED DURING THE PREFLIGHT TO ASSURE THAT THE BREATHER SYSTEM IS FREE OF ICE.'
Probable cause
The pilot's inadequate preflight of the airplane that failed to detect the ice clogged breather which resulted in the loss of oil and a subsequent emergency landing.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC95LA051
- Event ID
- 20001207X03024
- Case number
- NYC95LA051
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: fab4ce0bda6d1a64c0be6620dd6a3fb29d5ce878b4a953e856898bf2834db13e; retrieved 2026-09-23T00:16:14.368Z.