NYC02FA138 · Yakovlev YAK 52
Yakovlev YAK 52 · Accident: partial loss of engine power (non-mechanical) during initial climb
From 2N8 · Matawan, NJ to 2N8
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC02FA138
- 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
- Unknown
- 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
Yakovlev YAK 52
- Aircraft type
- Yakovlev YAK-52
- 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
- N69GC
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From 2N8 · Matawan, NJTo 2N8
- 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
- Stall/spin
- 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 › Aircraft control, not maintained
- Pilot in command › Maneuver, excessive
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The pilot reported that there were no discrepancies during the taxi, run-up, and takeoff roll. The airplane initially climbed approximately 20 degrees nose-up, and began to bank left. About 200 feet above the ground, the pilot and passenger heard a "bang," and the airplane continued to roll left. The airplane then spun to the right, and impacted a wooded area in a nose-down attitude. Examination of the wreckage revealed that a portion of the wooden propeller was almost entirely embedded in an approximate 3-inch diameter tree branch. The number nine front spark plug was found ejected from the engine. A burned torch mark was present on the underside of the cowling, in the vicinity of the number nine cylinder. Additionally, three other spark plugs were found loose in their cylinders. Review of maintenance records revealed that an annual inspection was performed on the airplane about 1 month prior to the accident. During the inspection, the spark plugs were cleaned, gapped, and rotated. Since the inspection, the airplane had flown approximately 30 minutes. The emergency procedures checklist, for the same make and model as accident airplane, included setting a descent attitude following an engine failure. Review of FAA publications regarding accelerated maneuver stalls, revealed that an airplane will stall at a higher indicated airspeed when excessive maneuvering loads are imposed by steep turns, pullups, or other abrupt changes in flightpath.
Probable cause
The pilot's excessive maneuvering and failure to maintain aircraft control, following a partial power loss during the initial climb, which resulted in an inadvertent stall/spin. A factor in the accident was an inadequate annual condition inspection performed by the certificated mechanic.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC02FA138
- Event ID
- 20020722X01176
- Case number
- NYC02FA138
- 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, coordinates. 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: c52a38b5ca222f37e0ff99f231ef170adf9dddf2935ef190226198928302283b; retrieved 2026-09-21T09:37:12.339Z.