Cessna 150L N6557G

Summary

On 17 June 2001 at about 19:00 local time, a Cessna 150L registered N6557G was involved in an accident near Munster, Indiana, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

17 June 2001 at 19:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Munster, Indiana, United States

Coordinates

41.5401, -87.4998

Aircraft

Cessna 150L

Registration

N6557G

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Munster → Lansing

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

CHI01LA170

Nobody was injured.

Engine failure during takeoff due to water contaminating the fuel, the pilot's inadequate preflight planning/preparation, and the low altitude. Factors relating to this accident were the attempted emergency landing after takeoff and the fence.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

On the previous flight, the airplane experienced a loss of engine power during cruise flight. The airplane was successfully forced landed in the soybean field by another pilot. The owner/accident pilot said that when he arrived at the field, he and one of his line service employees removed the airplane's cowling and "examined [the] control cables, etc." They checked the fuel at both of the fuel tank drains and the main sump. They also did a visual check of the fuel in the tanks. They started the engine with the cowling off and did an engine run up. The owner/pilot shut the engine down, replaced the cowling, restarted the engine, and taxied the airplane to the east edge of the field. The owner/pilot said, "I proceeded to do another run up with mags checking good. I lowered flaps to 20 degrees and started a take off roll to the west." He said that the ground roll and climb out seemed normal and the engine sounded okay. The owner/pilot said that at about 50 to 75 feet above the ground the engine quit. "I pumped the throttle a few times to no avail. With an 8 foot [high] cyclone fence ahead of me, I decided to turn 90 degrees to the left." The owner/pilot said that about the same time the airplane was "making ground contact nose heavy and flipped over on the aircraft's back." The owner/pilot said that he suspected water contamination. He said that they had this problem before with this airplane. The airplane had been tied outside for a couple of weeks, and that they had experienced some heavy rain during that time. An examination of the airplane revealed water in the fuel.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.