DFW05CA219 · Cessna 172R
Cessna 172R · Accident: airframe, component or system failure en route
From Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (FTW) to Levelland Municipal Airport (LLN)
Event
- NTSB case
- DFW05CA219
- 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 172R
- Aircraft type
- Cessna 172
- 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
- N93AF
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Fort Worth Meacham International Airport (FTW), Fort Worth, TXTo Levelland Municipal Airport (LLN), Levelland, TX
- 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
- 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
- Pilot in command › In-flight planning/decision, improper
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
While in cruise flight at an altitude of 6,500 feet, the 404-hour private pilot noticed a "mist" forming on the windscreen. He decided to return to the airport from which he had departed and began a descent. During the descent the oil pressure light illuminated and the pilot observed that the "oil temperature was very high." The pilot then elected to shut down the engine. Realizing that he could not reach the airport, he proceeded to search for a suitable landing field. After attempting to declare an emergency, he selected a landing field and turned towards it. Observing power lines in his path, the pilot restarted the engine in an attempt to avoid contacting them. The airplane's "engine responded with very little effect," but the pilot was able to clear the power lines and landed in a field. During landing, the nose landing gear collapsed and the airplane nosed over, coming to rest in an inverted position. An examination of the engine revealed that the engine oil pressure switch, (P/N 83278), had failed internally which allowed engine oil to vent overboard. No other pre-impact anomalies were noted with the engine. At the time of recovery the engine oil sump contained approximately six quarts of engine oil. The Cessna 172R Skyhawk Information Manual dated December 2, 1996, page 3-20 stated: "If a total loss of oil pressure is accompanied by a rise in oil temperature, there is good reason to suspect an engine failure is imminent. Reduce engine power immediately and select a suitable forced landing field. Use only the minimum power required to reach the desired touchdown spot."
Probable cause
The pilot's improper decision to shut down the engine. Contributing factors were the failure of the oil pressure switch and the lack of a suitable landing area.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record DFW05CA219
- Event ID
- 20051004X01578
- Case number
- DFW05CA219
- 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: fe1e0ec44291877ca6cc287a8592bab8dfef22a7b13f443de1a23889bbe54078; retrieved 2026-09-22T05:27:29.931Z.