NYC89LA075 · Cessna 152
Cessna 152 · Accident: total loss of engine power (mechanical failure) en route
From Republic Airport (FRG) to Francis S Gabreski Airport (FOK)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC89LA075
- 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
- N25420
- Operator
- Nassau Flyers
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Republic Airport (FRG), Farmingdale, NYTo Francis S Gabreski Airport (FOK), WESTHAMPTON BCH, NY
- 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 · 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
- Total loss of engine power (mechanical failure)
- 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
- Fluid, oil › Contamination
- Fluid, oil › Starvation
- Other maintenance personnel › Maintenance, installation, improper
Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Fire Island, NY, the place the record names. Not the accident site.
NTSB narrative
THE AIRCRAFT WAS AT 2,000 FEET OVER FIRE ISLAND BEACH WHEN THE ENGINE FAILED. DURING A LANDING ON A SANDY BEACH, THE GEAR SANK INTO THE SAND AND THE AIRCRAFT NOSED OVER. A SEALANT USED ON THE OIL PRESSURE SCREEN HOUSING GASKET WAS FOUND IN THE MAIN BEARING OIL SUPPLY HOLES. THE NUMBER ONE CONNECTING ROD, BEARING, AND BOLT FAILED. METAL WAS FOUND IN THE OIL, SUCTION SCREEN, AND OIL PRESSURE SCREEN HOUSING. TEXTRON LYCOMING DOES NOT HAVE A PROCEDURE FOR THE USE OF A SEALANT ON ANY GASKETS DURING THE ASSEMBLY OF ENGINES. 100 HOUR AND ANNUAL INSPECTIONS WERE PERFORMED 1.7 HOURS PRIOR TO ENGINE FAILURE. SPECTROMETRIC OIL ANALYSIS WAS NORMAL AND THE OIL SCREEN WAS CLEANED DURING THE INSPECTIONS.
Probable cause
THE IMPROPER INSTALLATION OF AN UNAUTHORIZED SEALANT USED ON THE OIL RESSURE SCREEN HOUSING GASKET CONTAMINATED THE OIL AND RESTRICTED THE FLOW OF OIL THROUGH THE MAIN BEARINGS CAUSING OIL STARVATION AND CONNECTING ROD, BEARING, AND BOLT FAILURE.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC89LA075
- Event ID
- 20001213X27658
- Case number
- NYC89LA075
- 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: 253cae6c1219ba5f42a55ed71f6de958984253a36a3d681d58a1fa59af38bd3d; retrieved 2026-09-23T07:55:08.514Z.