NYC04LA045 · Cessna 152
Aero Executive Services Cessna 152 · Accident: total loss of engine power (non-mechanical) en route
From Erie International Tom Ridge Field (ERI) to Rostraver Airport (FWQ)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC04LA045
- 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
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
- N94820
- Operator
- Aero Executive Services
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Erie International Tom Ridge Field (ERI), Erie, PATo Rostraver Airport (FWQ), Monongahela, PA
- 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
- Tree(s)
- 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 › Carburetor heat, improper use of
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
During cruise flight at 3,000 feet msl, the engine began to sputter, and lost all power. The student pilot completed the emergency checklist items, which included the application of carburetor heat. Subsequently, the student pilot was able to restart the engine. The engine then ran for approximately 15-20 seconds, but lost all power a second time; shortly after the student pilot had turned the carburetor heat off. The student pilot again was able to restart the engine using emergency procedures, which included turning the carburetor heat back on. The engine restarted and ran at a slower rpm for approximately 1 minute, before losing total power for a third time. The student pilot then performed a forced landing into trees. Review of the aircraft and fueling records revealed that the airplane had flown 3.3 hours since being completely fueled. Review of a make and model Pilot's Operating Handbook revealed that at 65 percent power, the airplane's endurance was approximately 3.9 hours. Review of the FAA Carburetor Icing Probability Chart revealed that the airplane engine was susceptible to icing at glide and cruise power in the reported weather conditions.
Probable cause
The student pilot's improper use of carburetor heat, which resulted in a total loss of engine power during cruise flight. A factor was carburetor icing conditions.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC04LA045
- Event ID
- 20031217X02052
- Case number
- NYC04LA045
- 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: 4f3a045d82a6896bd3be60af7ac01b18f05ba3d02bb51a6f97a546f0d4014d3c; retrieved 2026-09-21T09:20:22.523Z.