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Atlas / NTSB / ERA21LA359

NTSB CAROL · Event

Event ERA21LA359

2021-09-09 Venice, Florida, United States Airport · VNC None 1 aircraft Status: Completed

Registry · N782JA

FAA Aircraft Registry record.

Make / Model

CESSNA 172S

Year of manufacture

2007 · 14 years old at event

Engine

LYCOMING IO-360-L2A (180 hp)

Seats / Engines

4 seats · 1 engine

Last airworthiness date

20070712

ADS-B equipped

Yes — Mode-S AA98BD

Registrant of record

AANONSEN PER

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

Maintenance personnel’s failure to use the correct throttle linkage hardware when reinstalling the engine, resulting in a disconnection of the throttle during flight.

Factual narrative

The pilot reported that, during the descent for landing, the engine did not respond when he attempted to level off and increase power. Further attempts to adjust the throttle were unsuccessful and engine rpm remained at 1,900. As the airplane was over the runway, the pilot was unable to slow it down, so he forced the nose down onto the grass that was beyond the runway end. After the airplane touched down, it bounced twice, collided with a fence, and nosed over. The airplane was substantially damaged and the pilot and passenger were unhurt. The Federal Aviation Administration inspector who responded to the scene confirmed the substantial damage and found that the connecting hardware for the linkage between the fuel injector servo and the throttle cable were missing. The missing bolt, washer, and nut were subsequently found loose, inside the engine cowling; however, the nut was inconsistent with the nut required by the aircraft illustrated parts manual. The engine had been overhauled and reinstalled about 50 operating hours before the accident. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).

  • Aircraft-Aircraft power plant-Engine fuel and control-Fuel controlling system-Incorrect service/maintenance
  • Personnel issues-Task performance-Maintenance-Replacement-Maintenance personnel

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2021_ERA21LA359.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 (stall, 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 ↗