Cessna 152 N6285M

Summary

On 15 April 2009 at about 17:00 local time, a Cessna 152 registered N6285M, operated by Air Safety Flight Academy, was involved in an accident near Glendale, Arizona, United States. 2 people were on board and 2 had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

15 April 2009 at 17:00

Classification

Accident

Location

Glendale, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Glendale Municipal (GEU)

Coordinates

33.5069, -112.2881

Aircraft

Cessna 152

Registration

N6285M

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Air Safety Flight Academy

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Glendale → Glendale

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR09LA196

2 people had minor injuries.

A loss of engine power due to the failure of both magnetos resulting from an improper maintenance repair by maintenance personnel.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight instructor and student were returning to the airport when the airplane's engine began running rough. The roughness became increasingly worse, and finally the engine "sputtered briefly" and lost power. The flight instructor was unable to restart the engine, and he initiated a forced landing onto a nearby grassy field. During the landing roll, the airplane impacted a chain link fence, resulting in structural damage to the right wing. During postaccident examination of the airplane, several attempts were made to start and run the engine; however, it would not start. The magnetos were removed from the engine and tested, and neither produced spark. Disassembly of the left magneto revealed the failure of the secondary coil. Disassembly of the right magneto revealed that the point gap was set incorrectly and that the lead connector from the magneto's coil to the points was loose. Review of maintenance records revealed that the magnetos were removed 3 tachometer hours prior to the accident; new points, capacitors, and gaskets were installed and the magnetos were reinstalled on the engine.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.