Cessna 172S N2138W

Summary

On 6 June 2006 at about 23:30 local time, a Cessna 172S registered N2138W, operated by King Aviation, was involved in an incident near Lawrence, Massachusetts, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was slightly damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

6 June 2006 at 23:30

Classification

Incident

Location

Lawrence, Massachusetts, United States

Nearest airport

Lawrence Municipal (LWM)

Coordinates

42.7172, -71.1233

Aircraft

Cessna 172S

Registration

N2138W

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

King Aviation

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mansfield → Mans

Aircraft damage

Minor

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

NYC06IA143

Nobody was injured.

Foreign object damage to the leading edge of the propeller blade, which resulted in fatigue cracking and subsequent blade failure.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The commercial pilot was conducting a practice missed approach under instruction, when a propeller blade separated. The flight instructor took control of the airplane and shut down the engine to prevent further damage. He then made a Mayday call and glided the airplane to a successful runway landing. A postflight examination of the airplane revealed that the propeller blade was separated about 12 inches from the center of the hub. Metallurgical examination of the remaining fracture face revealed fatigue cracking that emanated from an indentation at the blade's leading edge. The fatigue crack propagated through approximately 50 percent of the fracture face, and beyond that, there was a band of overstress cracking. There was no evidence of corrosion, and a chemical analysis of the propeller blade revealed that the hardness and chemical composition of the blade met the requirements of the applicable engineering drawing. The flight instructor stated that during the airplane's preflight inspection, both he and the commercial pilot visually inspected the propeller blade, and ran their hands along the leading and trailing edges with no anomalies noted. The most recent maintenance inspection of the propeller occurred about 1 month before the incident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.