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CHI90LA086 · Cessna 152

21 Feb 1990 · Garrett, IN, United States

Sunrise Aviation Cessna 152 · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during landing

From 07C · Auburn, IN to an unrecorded destination

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Event

NTSB case
CHI90LA086
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
N757RN
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From 07C · Auburn, INTo 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
Landing · landing roll
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
Loss of control on ground/water
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

  • Pilot in command › Directional control, not maintained
  • Pilot in command › Ground loop/swerve, inadvertent

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE SOLO STUDENT PILOT STATED THAT JUST AFTER THE ACFT TOUCHED DOWN ON THE DAMP, TURF RUNWAY, THE AIRCRAFT VEERED OFF THE LEFT SIDE AND ONTO A NEWLY PLOWED FIELD. WHEN THE NOSE GEAR CONTACTED THE SOFT FURROWS, IT COLLAPSED AND THE AIRCRAFT NOSED OVER. THE STUDENT PILOT REPORTED THAT HE HAD LANDED ON THE SAME RUNWAY THE DAY BEFORE THE ACCIDENT WITHOUT ANY DIFFICULTY, BUT ON THE DAY OF THE ACCIDENT, THE RUNWAY WAS SOFTER AND THE WINDS WERE STRONGER. HE WAS LANDING WITH A DIRECT RIGHT CROSSWIND AT TEN KNOTS WHEN THE ACCIDENT OCCURRED. THE STUDENT PILOT WAS APPROVED FOR REPEATED SOLO CROSS-COUNTRIES BETWEEN THE AIRCRAFT'S HOME BASE AND THE ACCIDENT AIRPORT (APPROXIMATELY 4 MILES WEST) FOR PURPOSE OF AIRCRAFT REFUELING. THE STUDENT PILOT HAD 49 HOURS TOTAL FLIGHT TIME, INCLUDING 39 HOURS IN THE ACCIDENT MAKE AND MODEL AIRCRAFT AND 15 HOURS OF SOLO FLIGHT EXPERIENCE.

Probable cause

THE STUDENT PILOT'S FAILURE TO MAINTAIN DIRECTIONAL CONTROL WHICH RESULTED IN A GROUND SWERVE. THE CROSSWIND AND SOFT RUNWAY WERE RELATED FACTORS.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record CHI90LA086
Event ID
20001212X22533
Case number
CHI90LA086
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: 63e319952b078ca22aca8055bfca309211e1737eb76497b79e2832b9e6c70be0; retrieved 2026-09-23T06:46:18.752Z.