BUENA PARK : Engine Not to Blame in Cessna 152 Crash
Engine trouble was not to blame for the Sept. 19 crash of a light plane into a Buena Park neighborhood, but the cause of the accident remains unknown, a federal aviation investigator said Monday.
The burned and mangled wreckage of the Cessna 152 was examined by National Transportation Board investigators, who repaired the airplane’s fuel tank and tested the engine.
“We have run the engine and it cranked and ran without any difficulty,” said NTSB investigator Jim Wall. “It developed performance power. We ran it for about five minutes.”
Wall said the NTSB in Washington will determine the cause of the crash based on reports about the engine, the weather and other information. Because of a backlog of investigations into transportation accidents, he said it will probably be a year before the NTSB issues a report.
The airplane lost power shortly after takeoff from Fullerton Municipal Airport, with student pilot Moyra Pim and instructor Bradley Pearce aboard. The aircraft grazed a house and knocked over a tree before crashing into another house at Artesia Boulevard and Darlington Avenue. Pim and Pearce survived the crash, although the airplane burst into flames shortly after the accident.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
