Cessna 172N N6272D

Summary

On 5 April 2003 at about 21:27 local time, a Cessna 172N registered N6272D, operated by Cableair, Inc., was involved in an accident near Anaheim, California, United States. 2 people were 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

5 April 2003 at 21:27

Classification

Accident

Location

Anaheim, California, United States

Coordinates

33.8333, -117.8561

Aircraft

Cessna 172N

Registration

N6272D

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Cableair, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Santa Monica → La Verne

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX03LA128

Nobody was injured.

Failure of company maintenance personnel to correctly install and safety wire the oil drain plug, which led to a loss of engine oil and a catastrophic internal failure of the engine.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During cruise flight, the engine lost power and the airplane struck a car and then the right wing hit a fence during a forced landing on a freeway. The pilot had rented the airplane for a personal flight. There were no mechanical malfunctions noted on the first leg of the flight. On the second leg of the flight, the pilot noted a drop in engine power followed by a violent shaking of the airframe. The pilot set up for an emergency landing on the freeway. During landing, the airplane impacted a car, which the pilot had not noticed, and a fence. Post accident examination disclosed that oil covered the belly of the airplane and coated the inside of the engine compartment and nose wheel assembly. The engine sustained a catastrophic internal failure. The oil drain plug was missing. The investigation revealed that the engine had been overhauled 5 hours prior to the accident and then reinstalled by the operator's maintenance personnel. The oil drain plug is normally secured with safety wire. No safety wire remnants were found on the engine.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.