MIA08LA035 · Cessna R172K
Cessna R172K · Accident: loss of engine power (total) during an emergency descent
From Washington Manassas Harry P. Davis Field (KHEF) to Newport News Williamsburg International Airport (KPHF)
Narrative check · The NTSB narrative appears to contradict this record's departure or destination. Values are shown as recorded, not corrected; compare with the narrative.
Event
- NTSB case
- MIA08LA035
- 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 R172K
- 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
- N758FQ
- Operator
- Neil T. Wallace · private individual
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route Narrative disagrees
- From Washington Manassas Harry P. Davis Field (KHEF), Mannasas, VATo Newport News Williamsburg International Airport (KPHF), Newport News, VA
- 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
- Emergency descent
- Defining eventThe 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
- Loss of engine power (total)
- 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
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Task performance
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 stated that he was on an IFR flight plan at 5,000 feet in VFR conditions, and in radio contact with approach control, when the engine started to run a little rough. A short time later, the pilot smelled fuel fumes and he was unable to determine the source. The pilot informed approach control that he needed to land, initiated a forced landing, and the engine stopped less than a minute later. The pilot stated that he elected not to make a traffic pattern. He used 10 degrees of flaps, the airplane touched down long about halfway down the field at about 90 knots, and collided with a fence and trees. Examination of the forced landing area revealed it was 1,050 feet long and other suitable forced landing areas were available in the immediate vicinity. The Pilot Operators Manual stated full flaps were recommended with an airspeed of 65 knots, and the landing distance required was 610 feet. Examination of the landing area revealed the airplane collided with a 3 to 4-foot tall fence pole 900 feet down the forced landing area before colliding with trees. The airplane traveled 1,100 feet before coming to a stop. The engine was transported to the manufacturer and disassembled. Examination of the engine revealed the No. 4 top spark plug insulator was cracked near the electrode. The No. 4 piston exhibited burn through erosion signatures consistent with a pre-ignition/detonation event allowing excessive crankcase pressure. The oil supply was evacuated through the crankcase breather resulting in the failure of the No. 2 connecting rod cap and loss of engine power.
Probable cause
The pilot's failure to follow the checklist and failure to achieve the proper touchdown point during a forced landing. Contributing to the accident was a loss of engine power due to a cracked No. 4 top sparkplug insulator, resulting in pre-ignition/detonation and the failure of the No. 2 connecting rod cap due to evacuation of the oil supply.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record MIA08LA035
- Event ID
- 20080115X00047
- Case number
- MIA08LA035
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
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: 55c69a712974a3c4a20788d9c537452d5c89860dd0299d000324bac5222dbe2f; retrieved 2026-09-15T09:20:17.863Z.