Aircraft Was Leaking Oil, Which May Have Contributed To Engine
Failure
The NTSB has released its
preliminary report for an incident in which a Cessna 172RG made an
emergency landing on the access road to a shopping mall parking lot
in New Jersey. Both the student and instructor pilots were able to
walk away from the aircraft.
The text of the NTSB Preliminary Report reads as follows:
NTSB Identification: ERA09LA481
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Tuesday, August 25, 2009 in Rockaway, NJ
Aircraft: CESSNA 172RG, registration: N6117R
Injuries: 2 Minor.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may
contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when
the final report has been completed.
On August 25, 2009, at 1215 eastern daylight time, a Cessna,
172RG, crashed in a mall parking lot during a force landing, in
Rockaway, NJ. The airplane incurred substantial damage. The flight
instructor received minor injuries and the dual/student pilot was
not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and no
flight plan was filed. The airplane was operated by Air Fleet
Training Systems, under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal
Regulations Part 91, as an instructional flight.
The flight instructor stated that he and the dual/student pilot
had departed from the Green Lake Airport, West Milford, NJ (4N1)
and were about an hour into the instructional flight when he noted
the left main wheel was wet. The instructor believed, at first, it
was hydraulic fluid. He elected to leave the gear down and return
to their home base at the Essex County Airport, Caldwell, NJ (CDW).
During trouble shooting to determine where the fluid was coming
from, he noted that the engine oil pressure was in the red area
(low oil pressure). At that moment, the instructor took over
control of the airplane and retracted the landing gear to improve
airplane performance. He flew a flight path that was most direct to
CDW and contacted the controller at CDW to advise of the situation.
Minutes after the communication, the engine came “to a halt
with the propeller stopping” with no prior warning of the
imminent failure. The airplanes position was about 1 mile east of
the Rockaway Towne Center Mall. The instructor elected to land the
airplane in an empty section of the mall’s parking lot. The
airplane’s nose landing gear made contact with a curb, which
separated the gear, and the right wing impacted a tree before
coming to a full stop. Both occupants were able to disembark the
airplane without assistance.
File Photo
A post recovery examination of the wreckage revealed the fluid
was engine oil leaking from the engine, which covered the bottom
and empennage section of the airplane. The engine would rotate
partially and the number three cylinder would not hold compression
during a cylinder differential compression check. The engine had a
total time of 3,949 hours and 238 hours since overhaul, which
occurred in January of 2007. The engine has been retained by the
National Transportation Safety Board for further examination.