SEA03LA202 · North American P-51D
North American P-51D · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route
From Jerome County Airport (JER) to Pocatello Regional Airport (PIH)
Event
- NTSB case
- SEA03LA202
- 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
North American P-51D
- Aircraft type
- North American P-51
- 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
- N2869D
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Jerome County Airport (JER), Jerome, IDTo Pocatello Regional Airport (PIH), Pocatello, ID
- 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 · climb to 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
- Airframe, component or system failure
- 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
- Cooling system › Malfunction
- Pilot in command › Procedures/directives, not followed
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 shortly after takeoff, the engine overheated, then lost coolant. The coolant covered the windshield and he had a hard time seeing in front of him for the return to the airport for landing. During the touchdown, the aircraft landed hard and slid off the side of the runway. During an inspection by maintenance personnel, it was found that the left wing spar was bent and required replacement. It was also found that the relief valve to the aftercooling system header tank failed, subsequently releasing the coolant. The aftercooling system is of the low pressure type, incorporating a relief valve which relieves at approximately 18 to 20 pounds per square inch. The flight manual states in several areas for start, ground operations and takeoff to closely monitor coolant temperatures to prevent overheating.
Probable cause
The malfunction of the cooling system pressure relief valve and the pilot's failure to follow procedures. An engine over temperature, a coolant leak as a result of a relief valve failure, an obstructed windshield which was covered with coolant fluid, and an improper flare resulting in a hard landing were factors.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record SEA03LA202
- Event ID
- 20031205X02003
- Case number
- SEA03LA202
- 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: 4831ba4fb23a555000541d6c7bc6a815843ea6fb9995376218ae1f8efa1806e4; retrieved 2026-09-22T09:03:57.343Z.