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NYC86LA072 · Cessna 150

4 Feb 1986 · Naugatuck, CT, United States

Cessna 150 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route

From Hartford Brainard Airport (HFD) to Meriden Markham Municipal Airport (MMK)

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Event

NTSB case
NYC86LA072
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
N6007G
Operator
Robert D. Penrod · private individual
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Hartford Brainard Airport (HFD), Hartford, CTTo Meriden Markham Municipal Airport (MMK), MERIDAN, CT
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 (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
Fuel exhaustion
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

  • Fluid, fuel › Exhaustion
  • Pilot in command › Aircraft preflight, improper
  • Pilot in command › Fuel supply, inadequate
  • Pilot in command › Inadequate transition/upgrade training
  • Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
  • Pilot in command › Refueling, not performed

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

NTSB narrative

A STUDENT PILOT PREFLIGHTED CESSNA 150, DEPARTED THE AIRPORT AND PERFORMED A FEW TOUCH AND GO LANDINGS BEFORE LEAVING THE AREA AND FOLLOWING THE MERRIT PARKWAY IN CONNECTICUT. THE PILOT STATED THAT THE ENGINE WAS NOT RUNNING SMOOTH. THE PILOT LANDED AT CROSS ROADS AIRPORT AND A MECHANIC CHEKED ENGINE. THE MECHANIC SAID IT WAS PROBABLY CARB ICE. HOWEVER, AFTER TAKING OFF AGAIN, THE ENGINE CONTINUED TO RUN ROUGH. WHEN THE ENGINE FINALLY QUIT, THE PILOT ATTEMPTED A LANDING ON A SCHOOL TENNIS COURT. THE PILOT STATED TO A POLICEMAN THAT HE RAN OUT OF FUEL. EXAMINATION OF THE AIRCRAFT SHOWED APPROXIMATELY 1.5 QUARTS OF FUEL REMAINING IN BOTH TANKS. THE PILOT HAD NO KNOWN SOLO EXPERIENCE AND FURTHER STATED THAT THIS FLIGHT WAS NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR.

Verbatim NTSB analysis from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record NYC86LA072
Event ID
20001213X32934
Case number
NYC86LA072
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: d5ea8a3c03a9f4705f99a24316f2efe173a058761f0637ff8263e9cce01cc2f7; retrieved 2026-09-21T17:03:41.576Z.