Skip to content

Atlas / NTSB / CEN26LA080

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CEN26LA080

2025-12-21 Prospect Heights, Illinois, United States Airport · KPWK None 1 aircraft Status: In work

Registry · N3103V

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 150M

Year of manufacture

1974 · 51 years old at event

Engine

CONT MOTOR 0-200 SERIES (100 hp)

Seats / Engines

2 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

19741121

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S A349A6

Registrant of record

N3103V LLC

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

On December 21, 2025, about 1342 central standard time, a Cessna 150M, N3103V, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Prospect Heights, Illinois. The student pilot was not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. The student pilot was flying solo. He was returning from the practice area and was on final approach. While making an altitude correction, the student pilot applied engine power and applied slight back pressure on the control yoke. He heard a click and realized the yoke was stuck. He initially applied a “decent amount of force” and was unable to move the control. The stuck control resulted in the airplane beginning to climb while on short final. The pilot then added more force to get the yoke to move, he heard another click and the yoke was released and worked again. He then landed and taxied back without any further issues. Examination afterwards by the pilot and his flight instructor found the support collar at the instrument panel had cracked (see figure below). When the control yoke was moved through its range of motion a certain way, the support collar would cause the yoke to be stuck until aggressive force was applied to free it. Due to the adverse effect on the aircraft’s flight characteristics and the required replacement of the support collar, the airplane sustained substantial damage. The support collar was removed and retained for further examination. Figure. Support collar for pilot control yoke. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2025_CEN26LA080.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Related research

What the literature says.

Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.

Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗