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NYC90LA152 · Cessna C182A

7 Jul 1990 · Pepperell, MA, United States

Cessna C182A · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) on approach

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Event

NTSB case
NYC90LA152
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 C182A

Aircraft type
Cessna 182
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
N5093D
Operator
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From not recordedTo 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
Approach · VFR pattern turn to base
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
Total loss of engine power (non-mechanical)
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 › Fuel tank selector position, improper

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Pepperell, MA, the place the record names. Not the accident site.

NTSB narrative

THE WING FLAPS JAMMED IN THE MID RANGE POSITION. THE PARACHUTIST ON BOARD EXITED THE AIRPLANE AND THE PILOT RETURNED FOR A LANDING. HE EXTENDED THE TRAFFIC PATTERN AND WHILE ON BASE LEG, THE ENGINE LOST POWER. HE WAS UNABLE TO GET THE ENGINE RESTARTED AND WAS BEYOND GLIDING DISTANCE TO THE AIRPORT. THE PILOT EXECUTED AN OFF AIRPORT LANDING IN A FIELD, DOWNWIND. THE FAA REPORTED THE FLAPS WERE JAMMED DUE TO A BROKEN FLAP SUPPORT ON THE INBOARD LEFT FLAP TRACK AND THE ENGINE WAS TEST RUN SATISFACTORY AFTER THE ACCIDENT. FUEL WAS REPORTED TO BE AT THE 1/4 LEVEL. THE POWER LOSS WAS ATTRIBUTED TO THE FUEL SELECTOR BEING IMPROPERLY POSITION.

Probable cause

INFLIGHT COLLISION WITH TERRAIN DURING A FORCED LANDING AFTER THE PILOT EXPERIENCED JAMMED FLAPS AND A POWER LOSS DUE TO THE FUEL SELECTOR BEING IMPROPERLY POSITIONED.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC90LA152
Event ID
20001212X23793
Case number
NYC90LA152
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: 19e55c07ecbb39825364a6fa288900c0351bf7350d440da4a8e12934f95ab490; retrieved 2026-09-21T23:49:35.799Z.