Cessna 172S incident near Lawrence, Massachusetts, June 6, 2006
On June 6, 2006 at about 11:30 pm local time, a Cessna 172S, registered N2138W, suffered minor damage in an incident near Lawrence, Massachusetts (Lawrence Municipal airport). It was an instructional flight under general aviation rules (Part 91). No one was hurt; 2 people were on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
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The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
Foreign object damage to the leading edge of the propeller blade, which resulted in fatigue cracking and subsequent blade failure.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 4, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- June 6, 2006 · about 11:30 pm local time
- Place
- Lawrence, Massachusetts · Lawrence Municipal · map
- Type
- Incident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 2 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Cessna 172S · all 172Ss on the register
- Registration
- N2138W · registry record · serial 172S9561
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Instructional flight · general aviation rules (Part 91)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
The commercial pilot was conducting a practice missed approach under instruction, when a propeller blade separated. The flight instructor took control of the airplane and shut down the engine to prevent further damage. He then made a Mayday call and glided the airplane to a successful runway landing. A postflight examination of the airplane revealed that the propeller blade was separated about 12 inches from the center of the hub. Metallurgical examination of the remaining fracture face revealed fatigue cracking that emanated from an indentation at the blade's leading edge. The fatigue crack propagated through approximately 50 percent of the fracture face, and beyond that, there was a band of overstress cracking. There was no evidence of corrosion, and a chemical analysis of the propeller blade revealed that the hardness and chemical composition of the blade met the requirements of the applicable engineering drawing. The flight instructor stated that during the airplane's preflight inspection, both he and the commercial pilot visually inspected the propeller blade, and ran their hands along the leading and trailing edges with no anomalies noted. The most recent maintenance inspection of the propeller occurred about 1 month before the incident.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Other crew
- Certificate: flight instructor, commercial pilot
- Ratings: multi-engine land; single-engine land; instructor: airplane multi-engine; instructor: airplane single-engine; instrument: airplane
- Flight time: 1,070 hours in all; 550 in this make and model; 220 in the last 90 days; 85 in the last 30 days; 974 as pilot in command; 680 on instruments
- Last flight review: March 21, 2006
- Medical certificate: Class 1 (valid medical--w/ waivers/lim.)
- Seat: rgt
- Injury: no injuries
The aircraft
- Airframe total time: 1,623 hours
- Last inspection: 100-hour inspection, May 1, 2007; 53 hours since
- Maximum gross weight: 2,550 lb
- Seats: 4
- Landing gear: fixed
- Engine: Lycoming IO-360 (piston); 0 hours total
- Operator: King Aviation
The flight
- Departed from: 1B9 Mansfield MA at 7:30 pm
- Destination: 1B9 Mans MA
- Flight plan: IFR
- Runway 32, 3,901 ft by 100 ft
- A second pilot was aboard
Weather at the time
- Light: daylight
- Wind: from 090° at 7 knots
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: clear
- Temperature: 64°F (18°C), dew point 55°F (13°C)
- Altimeter: 30.04 inHg
- Observation at 11:54 pm from LWM
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 2 |
Other NTSB records under N2138W the same tail number, which may have belonged to a different aircraft at the time
About this page
Everything above comes from the NTSB's public accident database: the narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words, and the coded tables behind its report (pilot, aircraft, flight, weather, injuries, sequence of events) are written out in plain English. Pilots' ages, home towns and medical details are left out on purpose. The docket at the NTSB holds the report as a PDF and the investigation's photographs and documents. This site never names pilots, passengers or anyone else involved. A preliminary report describes what is known soon after the event and can change; the final report, with the probable cause, usually follows one to two years later and this page is refreshed when it does. Case number NYC06IA143.