Cessna 172S accident near Plainville, CT
On August 17, 2002, a Cessna 172S (airplane) was involved in an accident near Plainville, CT. 2 people died. Damage to the aircraft: destroyed.
- Date
- August 17, 2002
- Place
- Plainville, CT
- Aircraft
- Cessna 172S · Airplane
- Injuries
- 2 fatal, 0 serious, 0 minor
- Damage
- Destroyed
- Position
- 41.685°N, 72.867°W
- NTSB ID
- 20020826X01459
NTSB summary
HISTORY OF FLIGHT On August 17, 2002, at 1129 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 172S, N35073, was destroyed when it impacted a parking lot shortly after takeoff from Robertson Field (4B8), Plainville, Connecticut. The certificated private pilot and the passenger were fatally injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the flight, destined for Montauk Airport (MTP), Montauk, New York. The personal flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 91. According to a witness who was sitting outside the fixed base operator (FBO), he observed the accident pilot perform a preflight inspection of the airplane. As the pilot started the engine, the witness observed a "puff of gray smoke" coming out of the engine, "as if the pilot had over-primed it." The engine then "smoothed out," and sounded normal during the taxi and initial takeoff from runway 02. As the airplane reached an altitude of 50 feet, the engine noise "changed, as if it had experienced a power reduction." Shortly thereafter, the witness observed gray smoke trailing from the airplane, and it appeared that the pilot was having trouble maintaining altitude. When the airplane was about 300-400 feet above the ground, a left turn was initiated, at a 45-degree bank. As the airplane continued the turn, the left wing dropped to a "pretty steep angle," before descending below the tree line. Another witness observed the airplane taxi to runway 02, then take off. His attention was drawn back to the airplane when he heard the airplane's engine "sputtering" during its initial climbout. He observed black
Probable cause
An in-flight engine compartment fire of unknown origin, and a loss of engine power for undetermined reasons. Also causal, was the pilot's failure to maintain airspeed during a turn back to the airfield, which resulted in an inadvertent stall and subsequent impact with the ground.
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Browse: Connecticut · Cessna aircraft
Source: NTSB aviation accident database (US government, public domain). Findings may be preliminary or later revised by the NTSB. Not a complete global record.
