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.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov