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Atlas / NTSB / CHI92FA188

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event CHI92FA188

1992-06-25 OAK CREEK, Wisconsin, United States Minor 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

A RESULT OF INADEQUATE AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE INSPECTION ON BEHALF OF THE COMPANY MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL.

Factual narrative

THE AIRPLANE HAD RECEIVED AN OIL CHANGE PRIOR TO THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT. THE PILOT STATED HE PERFORMED AN UNEVENTFUL PREFLIGHT INSPECTION OF THE AIRPLANE AND PREPARED FOR DEPARTURE. DURING HIS TAXI TO THE ACTIVE RUNWAY THE PILOT STATED HE DID NOT NOTICE ANYTHING UNUSUAL ABOUT THE OIL PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE INDICATIONS. THE PILOT SAID THE TAKEOFF WAS UNEVENTFUL AND SHORTLY AFTER LEVELING OFF FROM INITIAL CLIMB, HE EXPERIENCED ENGINE VIBRATION WHICH BECAME PROGRESSIVELY WORSE. THE PILOT DECLARED AN EMERGENCY WITH AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AND REQUESTED VECTORING BACK TO THE DEPARTURE AIRPORT. EVENTUALLY, WHILE OVER A RESIDENTIAL AREA, THE AIRPLANE'S ENGINE SEIZED WHILE HEADING BACK TO THE AIRPORT. THE PILOT SELECTED AN OPEN FIELD WITHIN THE AREA OF HOMES. BELIEVING THE EMERGENCY LANDING FIELD WAS ATTAINABLE, THE PILOT EXTENDED THE LANDING GEAR. SHORTLY AFTER THIS THE AIRPLANE STRUCK A SINGLE FAMILY HOME AND CAME TO REST ON THE HOME'S ROOF AND SIDE. THE ON SCENE INVESTIGATION REVEALED THE AIRPLANE'S PROPELLER OIL RETURN LINE HAD DISCONNECTED FROM THE ENGINE'S CRANKCASE FITTING. AN EXAMINATION OF THE AIRPLANE'S TAXI ROUTE REVEALED A TRAIL OF OIL FROM ITS PARKING PLACE TO THE POINT WHERE THE AIRPLANE BEGAN ITS TAKEOFF ROLL. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1992_CHI92FA188.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 or causal vocabulary (maintenance). 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 ↗