NYC07LA107 · Grumman S-2B
Grumman S-2B · Accident: partial loss of engine power (mechanical failure) on approach
From Franklin Regional Airport (FKN) to Cherry Point MCAS / Cunningham Field/ (NKT)
Event
- NTSB case
- NYC07LA107
- 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
Grumman S-2B
- Aircraft type
- Grumman S-2
- 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
- N5234A
- Operator
- Unknown
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From Franklin Regional Airport (FKN), Franklin, VATo Cherry Point MCAS / Cunningham Field/ (NKT), CHERRY POINT, NC
- 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
- Approach · VFR pattern final
- 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 (mechanical failure)
- 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
- Wire, static; 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
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Flightcrew › Emergency procedure, not complied with
Approximate · Coordinates from the NTSB case API, which marks them as estimated or does not say; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
The retired military airplane was on an approximate 3-mile final approach to the runway when it experienced a loss of power in the right engine. The crew chief entered the cockpit and pushed the power levers forward when the pilot flying (PF) called for full power. The flightcrew did not comply with the memory items, nor did they comply with the "challenge and reply items" on the airplane's checklist, but instead, the pilot not flying (PNF) feathered the propeller on the left (operating) engine based solely on the PF's comment that he was holding right rudder. When the PNF perceived the left engine slowing down, but no reduction in drag, he un-feathered the left propeller. During the subsequent descent, the airplane struck power lines, trees, terrain, and was destroyed in a postcrash fire ignited by the downed power lines. Examination of the wreckage revealed heavy gauge wire wrapped around the left propeller, with signatures consistent with operation at impact. Examination of the right engine revealed a seized, inoperative dual magneto.
Probable cause
The flightcrew's failure to comply with the published emergency procedure following a loss of engine power on the right engine. Contributing to the accident was the failure of a magneto in the right engine.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record NYC07LA107
- Event ID
- 20070531X00668
- Case number
- NYC07LA107
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (5)
- 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: 8a03815fa2e7cdc0c582483c0bd49f56a924d7fe70df9b579ae8c8986e977753; retrieved 2026-09-21T08:49:23.967Z.
- Corrected after a review of the NTSB narrative, which states these values explicitly: damage. The narrative states the airplane "struck power lines, trees, terrain, and was destroyed in a postcrash fire".