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FTW84FA121

1984-01-23 · NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, United States · Fatal · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Airport NGW

N2115D has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA 170B, built 1979), which was not involved in this event.

Aircraft involved

Factual narrative

THE ENG QUIT AS THE ACFT WAS DESCENDING FOR AN APPROACH INTO MOISANT ARPT & THE ACFT WAS DITCHED IN LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN. EXAMINATION REVEALED THAT THE MAGNETO DISTRIBUTOR BLOCK WAS SEVERELY CRACKED & BOTH SETS OF BREAKER POINTS WERE DISPLACED AWAY FROM THE BREAKER CAM. THERE WAS EVIDENCE OF EXCESSIVE HEAT BUILDUP IN THE MAGNETO. THE ROTATING MAGNETO SHAFT REAR BEARING WAS 'LOCKED UP' & HAD CAUSED THE BEARING RETAINER TO SPIN WITHIN THE DISTRIBUTOR BLOCK. THE INNER RACE HAD APPARENTLY WELDED ITSELF ONTO THE SHAFT DUE TO EXCESSIVE HEAT BUILDUP IN THE BEARING. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_1984_FTW84FA121.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

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External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.