Cessna 152 N49391

Summary

On 4 January 2006 at about 17:50 local time, a Cessna 152 registered N49391 was involved in an accident near Rancho Murieta, 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

4 January 2006 at 17:50

Classification

Accident

Location

Rancho Murieta, California, United States

Nearest airport

Rancho Murieta (RIU)

Coordinates

38.4869, -121.1022

Aircraft

Cessna 152

Registration

N49391

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Sacramento → Rancho Murieta

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX06CA079

Nobody was injured.

fuel contamination (water) due to the inadequate preflight by both pilots, which failed to detect the residual water contamination in fuel system. A factor in the accident was the soft terrain condition at the forced landing site.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane nosed over during a forced landing in a muddy field after a loss of engine power. The instructor stated they were completing a flight review for the pilot at the time of the accident. After the airplane was fueled the instructor sumped the tanks and found water in the right wing. The pilot told the instructor that during the preflight he also found water in the sump. The instructor sumped the tanks 3 or 4 times until there was no water in the samples. Both pilots were then confident there was no more water in the fuel tanks and they proceeded with the flight. After a simulated engine failure the pilot applied full throttle to go around. About 400 feet mean sea level on climb out, the engine lost power and the instructor took the controls to make an emergency landing. A soft muddy field was the only place available that the airplane could glide to and the instructor performed a soft field landing, but the nose gear dug into the ground and the airplane nosed over. An examination of the engine and fuel system was conducted after the accident. Water was found in the gascolator and carburetor bowl. A fuel supply was plumbed into the wing root fuel line and the engine was started on the first attempt. The engine was stopped and started again with no anomalies found.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.