Cessna 152 N67893

Summary

On 15 March 1998 at about 14:40 local time, a Cessna 152 registered N67893, operated by O.t. Aviation, was involved in an accident near West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, United States. One person was on board and one died. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 March 1998 at 14:40

Classification

Accident

Location

West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, United States

Nearest airport

Allegheny County (AGC)

Coordinates

40.3590, -79.9009

Aircraft

Cessna 152

Registration

N67893

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

O.t. Aviation

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

IAD98FA037

1 person died.

The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, which resulted in an inadvertent stall/spin. A related factor was the pilot's impairment due to the use of drugs.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The student pilot was in the traffic pattern practicing touch and go landings and had completed one landing. The airplane was on the downwind leg for the second landing when the control tower lost radio contact with the pilot. The pilot of another airplane in the traffic pattern located the accident airplane at the point where the pilot would turn from the downwind leg to the base leg. A witness, near the accident site, said he saw a small airplane in a 'straight down dive.' The airplane impacted the ground in a near vertical position and came to rest inverted. Postaccident examination of the airplane did not disclose any structural or mechanical anomalies. Toxicological tests of the pilot revealed 0.015 (ug/ml, ug/g) diphenhydramine in blood, 0.012 (ug/ml, ug/g) doxylamine in blood, and unquantified levels of trimethoprim, pseudoephedrine and phenylpropanolamine in blood. Diphenhydramine and doxylamine are sedating over-the-counter antihistamines, and the levels detected in blood indicate they may have been used by the pilot more than 24 hours before the accident flight. Pseudoephedrine is a decongestant, phenylpropanolamine is a metabolite of pseudoephedrine, and trimethoprim is a prescription antibiotic. In the Code of Federal Regulations, 14 CFR 91.17, it states: 'No person may act or attempt to act as a crewmember of a civil aircraft...While using any drug that affects the person's faculties in any way contrary to safety... .'

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.