At about 0900 eastern time, a Cessna 152 suffered a catastrophic engine failure about 10 minutes after takeoff, forcing the solo student pilot to make a forced landing. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said he was in cruise flight at 2,300 feet when he heard a loud bang and observed smoke coming up over the windshield. He started for a golf course, but noticed golfers in the way, so he transitioned to a road. On the rollout, the left wing his a sign. Examination of the airplane revealed a hole in both tops of the engine case halves in the vicinity of the No.3 and No. 4 cylinder, with a broken connecting rod sitting in the hole. The last engine overhaul was eight years ago, at engine total time of 6,342.3 hours. At the time of the accident the engine had accumulated 3,278.5 hours since the overhaul.
February 25, Hudson, Fla. / Cessna 152
At about 0900 eastern time, a Cessna 152 suffered a catastrophic engine failure about 10 minutes after takeoff, forcing the solo student pilot to make a forced landing. The pilot was not injured. The pilot said he was in cruise flight at 2,300 feet when he heard a loud bang and observed smoke coming up over the windshield. He started for a golf course, but noticed golfers in the way, so he transitioned to a road. On the rollout, the left wing his a sign. Examination of the airplane revealed a hole in both tops of the engine case halves in the vicinity of the No.3 and No. 4 cylinder, with a broken connecting rod sitting in the hole. The last engine overhaul was eight years ago, at engine tota...
Key Takeaways:
- A Cessna 152 suffered a catastrophic engine failure approximately 10 minutes after takeoff, forcing the solo student pilot to make an emergency landing.
- The engine failure, signaled by a loud bang and smoke, was attributed to a broken connecting rod creating holes in the engine case.
- The uninjured pilot successfully executed a forced landing on a road, diverting from an initial attempt at a golf course, though the left wing struck a sign during the rollout.
- The engine had accumulated 3,278.5 hours since its last overhaul, which had occurred eight years prior.
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