BFO92LA149 · Cessna 150
Cessna 150 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From North Central West Virginia Airport (CKB) to an unrecorded destination
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- BFO92LA149
- 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 150
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 150
- 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
- N45657
- Operator
- Marion Murray
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Possible conflict
- From North Central West Virginia Airport (CKB), Clarksburg, WVTo not recorded
- 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
- Initial climb
- 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
- Partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
- Also codedOther events the NTSB coded in the sequence, such as a wire strike after a loss of power. Flight Findings uses them for its kinds of event. Glossary
- Tree(s)
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
THIS WAS THE PILOT'S FIRST TIME AT THIS AIRPORT. HE WAS INVITED TO LAND BY THE AIRPORT OWNER WHO RADIOED AND TALKED HIM THROUGH THE LANDING. HE LANDED SUCCESSFULLY, AND THE OWNER THEN TOOK HIM UP FOR A FLIGHT TO SHOW HIM THE NORMAL TAKEOFF AND LANDING FOR THIS AIRPORT. AFTER THE SECOND LANDING, THE OWNER GOT INTO HIS AIRPLANE AND ASKED THE PILOT TO FOLLOW HIM. DURING THE TAKEOFF, THE PILOT STATED THAT THE ENGINE SEEMED TO BE LOSING POWER AND NOT CLIMBING AS NORMAL. A WITNESS WHO SAW THE AIRPLANE TAKEOFF REPORTED THAT THE ENGINE DID NOT SEEM TO BE DEVELOPING FULL POWER. HE ADDED THAT THE AIRPLANE ONLY SEEMED TO GAIN 50 TO 75 FEET WHEN THE PILOT MADE A RIGHT TURN AND DISAPPEARED BEHIND THE TREES. THE AIRPLANE COLLIDED WITH TREES ON TOP OF THE HILL. ACCORDING TO THE PILOT OPERATING HANDBOOK, IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT FOR TAKEOFF THE CARBURETOR HEAT SHOULD BE OFF. EXAMINATION OF THE AIRPLANE BY THE FAA REVEALED THE CARBURETOR HEAT WAS IN THE ON POSITION.
Probable cause
THE PILOT FAILED TO FOLLOW THE TAKEOFF PROCEDURE WHICH TO LED TO A PARTIAL LOSS OF POWER DURING TAKEOFF. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE TREES.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record BFO92LA149
- Event ID
- 20001211X15630
- Case number
- BFO92LA149
- 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: 96159d77caf14c00618d004a1f4cb504e953f6a5f99555529003db4c70588044; retrieved 2026-09-21T14:42:44.078Z.