Cessna 150-152 Pilot decades ago when general aviation at our level ... Companies like AirTex and...

ISSN 0747- 4712

www.cessna150152.com

Official Newsletter of the Cessna 150-152 Club.

2 Cessna 150/152 Upgrades Spiffing up your airplane 9 Just For Fun 13 An Accidental Education NTSB Reports

September / October 2015 Volume 35 Number 5

Cessna 150-152 Pilot

How Sweet It Could Be Happy Thanksgiving from Club Headquarters!

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Cessna 150-152 Pilot - Sept / Oct 2015

I can’t speak for people in other parts of the world, but here in the USA it has been (since the industrial revo-lution) commonplace for owners of machines to go to great lengths to personalize them, and often improve them. In particular, machines of transportation such as motorcycles, automobiles, bicycles, tricycles, and yes…airplanes. Cessna 150/152 series owners are no exception in their desire to be a little different, or improve upon what originally came out of an airplane factory in Kansas.

Several decades ago when general aviation at our level was going like wildfire, lots of people had an interest in developing STC’d modifications and replacement parts for Cessna and Piper single engine airplanes. The market was strong and the FAA was far more coopera-tive then, but it’s a bygone era. Fortunately, we are still benefiting from that lost age of innovation and pro-gress, and some of the mods and STCs are still avail-able. Presently nearly all of the cool stuff coming to market is aimed at the homebuilt/experimental commu-nity. Times have changed, GA has changed, but many thou-sands of 150/152s are still flying…much to Cessna’s surprise I’m sure. The factory still supports our little two-seaters to some degree but if you’ve ever had to buy genuine Cessna parts for your airplane the chances are your wallet was considerably lighter afterward. More often than not something common sense says should cost tens of dollars is, instead, hundreds of dol-

lars…and for your money you get a legacy part that is no better than the original and has been sitting on a shelf years. The last time I checked the price for what should be a $10 rheostat you see on the right, Cessna was asking over $200 for it. Admittedly, sometimes there is just no practical substitute for one of those 1940s-technology factory replacement parts, but often there is and the aftermarket part or modification may be an im-provement over the original. There are many ways to “improve” an airplane such as making it safer, lighter, faster, better looking, more comfortable, etc., all of which apply to the Cessna 150/152. The one caveat that also applies to most of these improvements is the word “marginal”. You can make your airplane marginally lighter, faster, and more comfortable, but to many of us that is enough to war-rant the investment. If we took a poll to see what the most popular area of aircraft improvement would be, I’m guessing it would be the aesthetics. How much attention do you think a really nice Citation jet attracts while sitting on a ramp

crowded with similar bizjets? None. How much atten-tion does a pristine Cessna 150 get when parked at a fly-in or other event? Well, a lot more than the Citation, and I’ll tell you why. The majority of the remain-ing/152 fleet is serviceable, but many of the airplanes are in need of paint, upholstery, etc. Personally, I’ve yet to see a Citation that struck me as looking neglected

Kicking It Up A Notch By Dan Meler

Impressive? Yes Interesting? No

YIKES $$$$$$$

When times were good these airplanes were coming off the assembly line in droves, and being marketed to the public like automobiles.

Finest Gascolator on the market, fits all 150s

Cessna 150-152 Pilot (ISSN 0747-4712) is published bimonthly, by The Cessna 150-152 Club, 3492 N. Foothill Rd., Medford, OR 97504 Periodicals Postage paid at Medford, OR 97501, USPS 721970.

Annual Postal Subscriptions are $48 also available as an electronic internet based subscription for $35. Copyright ©2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without permission is prohibited.

Postmaster, Send change of address to: Cessna 150-152 Club, PO Box 5298 Central Point, OR 97502 The information presented in this publication is from multiple sources from which The Cessna 150-152 Club cannot warranty or accept responsibility as to it's legality, completeness, or technical accuracy. Readers are reminded that United States Federal Air Regulations part 91 place primary responsibility for ensuring the airworthy condition of an aircraft on the owner and or operator. Any person who maintains, modifies, or otherwise changes an aircraft must do so in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations and applicable FAA regulations. Contacts: Telephone: (541) 772-8601 Website: www.cessna150152.com Email: Items for publication: [email protected] Email: General Inquiries, Membership, Requests for Technical Materials,, etc: [email protected]

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or like it was being maintained on a shoestring budget. Additionally, most of the hundreds of thousands of pi-lots who got their tickets in 150/152s remember them fondly and appreciate a fine example of the breed.

A new paint job of decent quality can run anywhere from $5000 to OMG! Sometimes there’s no substitute for new paint, but often a good buffing and waxing can make a world of difference with older paint. Other times, a partial paint refurbishment will do the trick.

That briefly addresses the most obvious general appear-ance item, but the second one would be the interior. When it comes to the 150/152 series I’d say the number of airplanes that could stand some attention paid to the paint would be greatly exceeded by the number that have suffered from interior neglect. Seats, upholstery, plastics, headliner, and the instrument panel…these components are what owners seems to be less likely to keep looking as nice as we would all like them to be.

An instrument panel refurbishment can consist of some new plastic, or plastic repair and paint, to a complete professional overhaul including radios, instruments, ra-dios, etc. So the cost can vary from a few dollars plus your labor, to writing a check to the pros for tens of thousands of dollars. Most of us probably find that our budgets would more comfortably accommodate an up-grade on the lower end of the scale, and it’s amazing how much you can do with a little creativity and your own hands. Nowadays they make rattle can paint that is formulated for plastics and allows you or me to achieve a professional looking finish that really spiffs things up in a hurry. As an aside, after adding a fuel computer to my panel it quickly became my favorite “unnecessary” instrument. Know-ing the nearly exact amount of fuel remaining at any given time on long x-country flights was nice to have, and the gallons per hour readout was helpful to me when it came to leaning and power management. Most of the plastic interior panels are available from aftermarket suppliers and this is a great way to give an interior refurbishment a professional and completed look. Some of the panels seem like bargains, some seem

This is about as nice as they come!

In contrast, THIS poor little bird is in need of complete restoration. Kinda breaks your heart huh? Most 150s are somewhere between this and the one above.

An example of what buffing can sometimes do for tired paint.

WOW!

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a bit pricey, but it’s unlikely you’d need to replace everything in the airplane. Carefully done plastic re-pairing of some panels, replacement of others, then painting them all to match can work wonders in ap-pearance.

If you take the airplane in for a professional quote to do the seats, carpets, and headliner you should have a friend standing by with smelling salts to aid your re-covery from the dead faint you may experience. Most shops that do this kind of work, as with avionics shops, seem to believe that Cessna 150/152 owners operate on the same size budgets as the owners of late model Bonanzas and King Airs.

Don’t despair though, because there is hope when it comes to renewing your aircraft’s upholstery. Believe

it or not, YOU may be fully capable of doing most of the work yourself. Companies like AirTex and Tennes-see Wings sell custom upholstery and kits for your air-plane. Anything you buy from these companies will meet/exceed FAA requirements and, from what I’ve seen, should meet your approval in quality and appear-ance. Shelby at TN Wings has a reputation for being fantastic to deal with. One of the often neglected parts of the aircraft is the “glass”…windshield, side and rear windows. An old crazed windshield can reduce your forward visibility to near zero under poor conditions, and that can lead to disaster.

These components are available in clear, smoke, and green tint from Cee Bailey’s at competitive prices. From experience, I’d suggest you leave replacing the windshield to someone with lots of experience, because the chances of a novice breaking a brand new one can pose a risk that you don’t want to take. The other glass

Nothing to be ashamed of here but let’s face it...the next picture is what we’d like to see in our own airplanes.

An old worn windshield is annoying, unattractive, and can be dangerous. Good visibility is a must.

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can be done by any owner with average skill. I have heard people say the tinted glass is not good for night flying. Personally I’m guessing those who say that have no actual experience in the matter.

In my opinion the benefits of tinted glass on bright days (and oddly, especially on bright cloudy days) far out-weigh the imperceptible degradation of night vision. New windows, aside from helping out from a safety standpoint, can really make the appearance of your air-plane pop! You know that one of the cardinal rules of piloting is “See and be seen”. The new glass helps you see, so now we’ll talk about being seen. Now and then I’ve no-ticed small airplanes painted to simulate military cam-ouflage: Shades of green, gray, tan. From the “be seen” perspective I can’t think of a worse strategy. Living in the Pacific NW if an aircraft goes down off airport it may all but disappear into the forest, and with a camo paint job there would be virtually no hope of ever spot-ting it. ‘Nuff said about that…it’s strictly a personal opinion I’m sharing with you. It’s not a one-size-fits-all issue. In the air, as well as on the ground, under most conditions I have found that Cub yellow seems to be the easiest color to spot…just a personal observation. Exterior lighting can be key to both seeing and being seen. You’ve read about or seen the new generation of LED landing lights such as the unit shown here from Whelen. I have not used these, but those who have give them a big thumbs up for enhanced visibility dur-

ing ground operations and landing at night. I wouldn’t be surprised if the LED lamps are also easier for other pilots to spot air to air in the daytime. The one down-side I know of is the cost of the LED lamps and only you can calculate the cost vs. benefit for yourself and your own type of flying. Personally, I might consider the upgrade if I were doing lots of night flying.

Strobes provide a huge advantage to be seen at night, and sometimes under dark cloudy daytime conditions. On my airplane I eliminated the tail flashing beacon and installed a smooth rudder top-cap. It was a nice look. I then installed wingtip strobes, which (if properly installed) satisfies FAA requirements in place of the flashing tail beacon. I never regretted installing the wingtip strobes and I know for a fact they increased the

visibility of my airplane. One note: at least the early generation of the new LED wingtip strobes were great at night, but much less visible during the day than con-ventional strobes. It’s possible the manufacturers have done something about that, but I can’t say for sure. And finally, regarding exterior lighting, something that

New glass really helps the appearance to pop!

You can clean up the tail by eliminating the flashing beacon in favor of wingtip strobes.

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really gets the attention of oncoming traffic is a flash-ing landing light, or wig-wag landing lights. Flashing landing lights can be seen for quite a few miles by other pilots, and by the control tower, even in the day-time, and can enhance safety particularly in busy areas.

Having mentioned the rudder top-cap that I replaced brings to mind the other exterior plastic and fiberglass parts that are replaceable, such as the rudder bottom-cap, elevator end caps, and wing tips. MetCo Aire makes some Hoerner style wingtips that not only look great, but slightly increase performance as well. I had them on my airplane for a few years and liked them a lot.

Ever wish you had a little better climb rate? Dumb question. We fly Cessna 150/152s…heck yes we would

like to climb better! There are two practical ways to achieve better climb which include reducing the weight of the airplane and increasing the power of the engine. OK, there is propeller pitch and some other things to consider, but that’s another discussion. Reducing weight: Put yourself and your passenger on a diet; don’t carry anything unnecessary, like chewing gum; fill the tanks with helium instead of avgas; fly na-ked. These are a few of the ways to reduce aircraft op-erating weight. OR…you can look into a lightweight starter, generator/alternator, and possibly see if you can use a lightweight battery such as an Odyssey dry bat-tery. STCs and approvals have been granted for some airplanes for these batteries and the weight savings is significant. Remove unnecessary parts such as non-functioning equipment, wheel pants, the rat’s nest of no longer used wiring that has accumulated behind the panels of many older airplanes. Increasing engine power: Here is where it can get inter-esting (and expensive). The Air Mods N.W. Spar-rowhawk Conversion has been popular for the Cessna 152, and increases the small Lycoming to 125hp, which is a considerable upgrade, and the owners I’ve spoken with about this conversion seem to be very happy with it. One advantage to this conversion over going to an O320 engine is that there is no weight increase. Now, if you really want a rocket ship (keep in mind everything is relative – I AM talking about our little Cessnas), you can transplant a Lycoming O320 or O360 into your Cessna 150 or 152 airframe at consider-able expense. While once quite popular, this conversion can easily run up towards $30k using a good low time engine, and the consensus these days is that in many cases if you want a 150-180hp 150/152 it’s better to simply buy one that has already been converted. If you do buy one, just make doggone sure all of the paper-work is in order. The Del-Air STC is the most desirable one out there because it includes a gross weight in-crease of 160 pounds for the 150s. Staying within the legal gross weight can be one of the difficulties flying these magnificent little birds. A “fast Cessna 150/152” may be considered an oxymo-ron in some circles, but it’s all relative and in our group every mile-per-hour can be precious. Years ago a com-pany named Aircraft Conversion Technologies held multiple STCs for the 150s. At one time, on their own 150 taildragger they had a 180 hp Lycoming and a con-stant speed propeller. I’m guessing THAT was one fast 150! My airplane was a 150 hp TexasTaildragger and it

MetCo tips...look great, work great.

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Just For Fun

Answers on page 12

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would top at a solid 150 mph ball to the wall, which was pretty fast, but a more practical cruise speed was around 135 mph. The most effective (and expensive) speed mod is the big engine transplant, but there are other things you can do to gain some speed for those long x-country flights. In a word: aerodynamics. If you can eliminate all of the unnecessary drag you might be surprised at the results.

Wheel pants seem to be somewhat controversial, but I consistently saw a 5 mph speed increase at cruise set-tings with the pants installed. Doing so much off air-port flying, I routinely had the wheel pants on and off seasonally.

Gap seals: I can’t say for sure how much gap seals help but they make sense and there is certainly no downside to having them. Speed fairings, such as wing strut fair-ings, gear to fuselage fairings, and for some models brake fairings supplementing the wheel pants all con-

tribute to cleaning up the airframe. As I mentioned be-fore, I removed the flashing beacon sitting atop the ver-tical stabilizer and that nicely cleaned up that area. An-other area where some airplanes can benefit greatly is rigging. The last I heard it cost several hundred dollars to have a trained specialist evaluate and properly rig a single engine airplane…but in some cases the results in speed and handling can be startling. Safety: I have discussed the obvious advantages of hav-ing a windshield that is optically clear, but there are many aspects to safety. Personally I won’t fly in a small airplane that doesn’t have shoulder harnesses. Anyone can have an accident, but nothing says “Stupid” like crushing your face against the panel be-cause someone was too negligent to install and use up-

per body restraints. You don’t have to buy the top of the line expensive harnesses, you can go for the budget offerings from Wag Aero and others and get the same protection. The majority of our airplanes are already set up from the factory with fittings overhead to attach shoulder harnesses, so it’s a no-brainer that anyone can do cheaply.

Wheel fairings shown with brake fairings added

Flap gap seal installed

Strut fairings

“Economy” harnesses from Wag Aero work just fine.

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We all have ELTs installed in our airplanes, but does yours have the remote switch on the panel to activate it in flight? Seems like a small thing doesn’t it? Picture it: Mechanical failure at altitude; several minutes of time to prepare before a forced landing in hostile terrain. Ac-tivating your ELT immediately could provide that warning to someone that an aircraft is in trouble prior to ground contact and the possible disabling of all com-munication devices. Also, if the ELT remains opera-tional you KNOW it has been activated for sure. Another addition to the cockpit that can be in-valuable in an emer-gency is a good handheld aircraft radio…if you’re on a budget, consider getting a used one. If buying new, I’d person-ally stick with ICOM unless you want a “two-fer” and then I’d get Sporty’s handheld NavComm, which is a great radio that includes ILS capability. If you fly in the kind of environment we have here in the Pacific NW, or not, your airplane might benefit from some airframe enhancements such as a STOL kit and/or VGs. By now most pilots know what VGs (vortex generators) are and have heard that they do a good job of stabilizing the airplane at low air speeds. Every pilot/owner I know who has installed this mod says it was money well spent. On my airplane I had the Horton STOL kit installed and loved it. The air-plane was rock-solid stable at minimum controllable air speeds, and when flying in areas such as Idaho’s back-country I found that stability to be very helpful.

A couple of other safety items I’ll mention are the rud-der stop kits and belly drains. Most Cessna 150 owners know that there have been a few incidents where a pilot has forced the rudder so hard that it jumped the factory stop and jammed. We can all imagine the results of jamming a rudder all the way to one side in flight. In-stalling a rudder stop kit will make it, for all practical purposes, impossible to jam a rudder in the manner de-scribed. Then there is the belly drain. The lowest point in your aircraft’s fuel system is located at the bottom of the fuselage under the pas-senger area. The fuel line has a cap installed at the factory, but no quick drain, and many 150s seldom get that cap removed to drain the contaminants that accumulate there. Sur-prisingly Cessna saw fit to install a rearview mirror so the pilot could confirm that every other airplane in the

When flying in OMG terrain, a STOL kit and/or Vortex Generators can enhance aircraft flight characteristics to a welcome extent.

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air had passed him up, but felt no need to make it eas-ier to eliminate all of the fuel contaminants that could result in engine stoppage! The Cessna 150-152 Club owns the STC for the belly drain and we sell them in our online store. With one of these installed, you can include draining this lowest fuel point in your daily routine preflight procedures. Another upgrade worth mentioning to the fuel system is the SA Gascolator. As our airplanes have aged one of the components that seems prone to failure is the gascolator. The Cessna gascolator is unnecessarily complicated, and expensive to repair/replace. The SA Gascolator, which we sell in our online store as well, is a one-time expense that will last the lifetime of the airplane with little to no mainte-nance…a much superior design to the original. Most people don’t mind, but the one difference that could be considered a downside would be that you lose the abil-ity to drain the unit from up top with the pull cable, which is eliminated. While it may not be considered a safety item, another mod to the fuel system is the anti-siphon vent tube sold by McFarlane.

Why the braniacs at Cessna couldn’t have done this originally is beyond me, but this clever STC’d mod cures the dreaded loss of fuel out the tank vent tube when the tanks are full and/or the airplane is sitting on the ramp with the left wing a little low. Considering the high cost of avgas it doesn’t take long for this mod to pay for itself. A couple of convenience items that I would place in the “honorable mention” category are the Pilot Light Pro and the Blue Sky Door Latch kits, both of which may not be necessary but are nice to have. I don’t know if any 150s remain that the door hold-open catch hasn’t long ago worn out, but the Blue Sky units are a great alternative and all of the feedback we’ve received from them has been positive. The light and the latch kits are both available in our online store. I know there are numerous other mods and upgrades from stainless steel screw kits to tailwheel conversions,

but in this article I have presented many of the most popular and helpful things owners might consider do-ing while refurbishing an airplane, or simply personal-izing one to their liking. Just remember, there are many improvements you can make with a little money, a little creativity, and lots of patience ☺

Old Farmer’s Advice

· Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight, and bull-strong

· A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor

· Life is simpler when you plow around the stumps

· Words that soak into your ears are whis-pered, not shouted

· Forgive your enemies, it messes with their heads

· Do not corner something meaner than you · It don’t take a very big person to carry a

grudge · You cannot unsay a cruel word · The best sermons are lived, not preached · Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t

never gonna happen anyway · Don’t judge folks by their relatives · Remember that silence is sometimes the best

answer · Live a good honorable life, then when you

get older and think back you’ll enjoy it a second time

· Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a Rain Dance

· Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got

· The biggest trouble maker you’ll probably ever have to deal with looks back at you in the mirror every morning

· If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around

Down 1. FLIR 2. Accelerate 3. Activate 4. Blade 6. Drag 8. Collins 10. Airborn 14. Wonder 15. Lean 17. hertz

Across 5. Forecaster 7. Rubber 8. Cowl 9. Flame 11. Jug 12. Ceiling 13. Barnstormer 16. Encoder 18. Intake 19. rotor

Puzzle Answers

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14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation Accident occurred Saturday, August 22,

2015 in Dorado, PR Aircraft: CESSNA 150M, registration: N4057V

Injuries: 1 Serious. On August 22, 2015, at 1655 Atlantic standard time, a Cessna 150M, N4057V, was substantially damaged during a forced landing in Dorado, Puerto Rico. The private pilot was seriously in-jured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed for the local flight from Fernando Luis Ribas Dominicci Airport (TJIG),San Juan, Puerto Rico. According to preliminary Federal Aviation Admini-stration (FAA) information, the airplane departed runway 27 westbound, and several minutes later the pilot called the tower to state he had "trouble" and was returning to the airport. The tower con-troller cleared the airplane for a right downwind to the runway, but then lost contact with it. According to the responding FAA inspector, the airplane landed in a park about 6 miles west of TJIG, hitting the bank of a ditch. The inspector also noted that before he was taken to a hospital, the pilot told a first responder that he had smoke in the cockpit. Examination of the airplane re-vealed engine compartment electrical arcing and melting of the plastic covering the battery ground-ing wire. Due to the extent of his injuries, the pilot could not be interviewed for the preliminary report.

14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation Accident occurred Tuesday, August 11,

2015 in Brookfield, MO Aircraft: CESSNA 150M, registration: N8896U

Injuries: 1 Uninjured.

On August 11, 2015, about 1615 central daylight time, a Cessna 150M airplane, N8896U, impacted terrain near Brookfield, Missouri. The private pilot, who was the sole occupant, was uninjured. The airplane sustained substantial firewall damage.

14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation

Accident occurred Tuesday, August 04, 2015 in Ellijay, GA

Probable Cause Approval Date: 09/30/2015 Aircraft: CESSNA 150M, registration: N3568V

Injuries: 2 Uninjured. The pilot reported that he applied power for night time takeoff and lifted off the runway. The airplane reached a height about 5 feet above the ground, and the pilot stated he could not see the runway lights and felt he was in a black hole. The airplane descended to the runway and bounced hard. De-spite efforts from the pilot to control the airplane, it veered left, exited the runway, and went down an eight to ten foot high embankment impacting ter-rain. The airplane came to rest inverted and sus-tained substantial damage to the fuselage and wings. The pilot reported no preimpact mechanical fail-ures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal operation. The National Transportation Safety Board deter-mines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows: The pilot's failure to attain and maintain sufficient airspeed during takeoff which resulted in a de-scent, loss of directional control, and a runway ex-cursion.

14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation

Accident occurred Thursday, July 23, 2015 in Apopka, FL

Probable Cause Approval Date: 09/30/2015 Aircraft: CESSNA 150M, registration: N704SB

Injuries: 2 Uninjured. NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did not travel in support of this investigation to pre-pare this aircraft accident report. During the takeoff following a touch-and-go land-ing, a flight of birds flew in front of the airplane and caused a bird strike on the right side of the air-plane. The pilot aborted the takeoff, landed on the runway, and was unable to stop as he reported there was "no runway distance for safe landing." The airplane departed the end of the runway, im-

NTSB Reports Important: The Cessna 150-152 club publishes these accident reports in the hope that readers will consider the role that each pilot’s decisions played in the outcome and learn from the experiences of others. These reports are solely based on preliminary NTSB reports which may contain errors. They have been edited for clarity. They are not intended to judge or reach any definitive conclusion about the ability or capacity of any person, aircraft, or accessory. Stats: 10 Airplanes, 15 Persons, 8 Uninjured, 3 Minor Injuries, 0 Serious Injuries, 4 Fatalities, 0 Unknown

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pacted terrain, and nosed over. The airplane sus-tained minor damage from the bird strike, and substantial damage to the fuselage and to the em-pennage during the accident. The pilot reported there were no pre-impact me-chanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal op-eration. The National Transportation Safety Board deter-mines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows: Following a bird strike during takeoff, the pilot's decision to land without sufficient runway remain-ing to safely stop the airplane, which resulted in an over-run, collision with terrain, and nose over.

14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation Accident occurred Thursday, July 09,

2015 in Renton, WA Probable Cause Approval Date: 08/12/2015

Aircraft: CESSNA 150J, registration: N12MM Injuries: 1 Minor.

The pilot reported that while conducting banner towing operations, after the airplane passed through the banner pick up gates, he applied full throttle and pitched the nose of the airplane up. Once the airspeed reached 40 miles per hour (MPH) he looked back to ensure that the banner pickup was successful. The pilot stated that when he turned back around the airspeed had de-creased, simultaneously the banner began "pulling", which led to an increase in drag, and the airplane exceeded its critical angle of attack. The airplane aerodynamically stalled, descended, and impacted the ground. The airplane impacted the ground left wing first, and sustained substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage. The pilot reported there were no pre-impact me-chanical failures or malfunctions with the airframe or engine that would have precluded normal op-eration. The National Transportation Safety Board deter-mines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows: The pilot's failure to maintain adequate airspeed, which resulted in the airplane exceeding its critical angle of attack and a subsequent aerodynamic stall/spin.

14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation Accident occurred Tuesday, July 07,

2015 in Moncks Corner, SC Aircraft: CESSNA 150M, registration: N3601V

Injuries: 2 Fatal, 1 Uninjured.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators either traveled in support of this investigation or conducted a signifi-cant amount of investigative work without any travel, and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report. On July 7, 2015, at 1100 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 150M, N3601V, and a Lockheed-Martin F-16CM, operated by the U.S. Air Force (USAF), collided in midair near Moncks Corner, South Carolina. The Cessna was destroyed during the collision, and both the private pilot and passenger were fatally injured. The damaged F-16 continued to fly for an additional 3 minutes until the pilot acti-vated the airplane's ejection system. The F-16 was destroyed following the subsequent collision with terrain and post-impact fire, while the pilot landed safely and was uninjured. Visual meteoro-logical conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the Cessna, while the F-16 was operating on an instrument flight rules flight plan. The Cessna departed from Berkley County Airport (MKS), Moncks Corner, South Carolina, at 1057, and was destined for Grand Strand Airport (CRE), North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; the personal flight was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The F-16 had departed from Shaw Air Force Base (SSC), Sumter, South Carolina about 1020. According to the USAF, after departing from SSC, the F-16 proceeded to Myrtle Beach International Airport (MYR), Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where the pilot conducted two practice instrument approaches before continuing the flight to Charleston Air Force Base/International Airport (CHS), Charleston, South Carolina. According to preliminary air traffic control (ATC) radar and voice communication data provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the F-16 pilot con-tacted the approach controller at CHS about 1052 and requested to perform a practice tactical air navigation system (TACAN) instrument approach to runway 15. The controller subsequently in-structed the F-16 pilot to fly a heading of 260 de-grees to intercept the final approach course. At 1055, the controller instructed the F-16 pilot to de-scend from his present altitude of 6,000 feet to 1,600 feet. About that time, the F-16 was located about 34 nautical miles northeast of CHS.

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At 1057:41, a radar target displaying a visual flight rules transponder code of 1200, and later corre-lated to be the accident Cessna, appeared in the vicinity of the departure end of runway 23 at MKS, at an indicated altitude of 200 feet. The Cessna continued its climb, and began tracking generally southeast over the next 3 minutes. For the dura-tion of its flight, the pilot of the Cessna did not contact CHS approach control, nor was he re-quired to do so. At 1100:18, the controller advised the pilot of the F-16, "traffic 12 o'clock, 2 miles, op-posite direction, 1,200 [feet altitude] indicated, type unknown." The F-16 pilot responded and ad-vised the controller that he was "looking" for the traffic. At 1100:26, the controller advised the F-16 pilot, "turn left heading 180 if you don't have that traffic in sight." The pilot responded by asking, "confirm 2 miles?" Eight seconds later, the control-ler stated, "if you don't have that traffic in sight turn left heading 180 immediately." Over the next 18 seconds, the track of the F-16 began turning southerly. At 1100:49, the radar target of the F-16 was lo-cated 1/2 nautical mile northeast of the Cessna, at an indicated altitude of 1,500 feet, and was on an approximate track of 215 degrees. At that time, the Cessna reported an indicated altitude of 1,400 feet, and was established on an approximate track of 110 degrees. At 1100:52 the controller advised the F-16 pilot, "traffic passing below you 1,400 feet." At 1100:54, the radar reported altitude of the F-16 remained at 1,500 feet and no valid altitude information was returned for the radar target asso-ciated with the Cessna. At that point the targets were laterally separated by about 1,000 feet. No further radar targets were received from the Cessna, and the next radar target for the F-16 was not received until 1101:13. At 1101:19, the F-16 pilot transmitted a distress call, and no subse-quent transmissions were received. Air traffic con-trol radar continued to track the F-16 as it pro-ceeded on a roughly southerly track, and after de-scending to an indicated altitude of 300 feet, radar contact was lost at 1103:17 in the vicinity of the F-16 crash site. The wreckage of the Cessna was recovered in the vicinity of its last observed radar target, over the west branch of the Cooper River. Components from both airplanes were spread over an area to the north and west of that point, extending for ap-proximately 1,200 feet. The largest portions of the

Cessna's airframe included a relatively intact por-tion of the fuselage aft of the main landing gear, and the separate left and right wings, all of which were within 500 feet northwest of the airplane's final radar-observed position. Portions of the cabin interior, instrument panel, fuel system, and engine firewall were found distributed throughout the site. The engine, propeller, and nose landing gear as-sembly were not recovered. The lower aft engine cowling of the F-16 was also recovered in the im-mediate vicinity of the Cessna's aft fuselage, while the F-16's engine augmenter was recovered about 1,500 feet southwest. Small pieces of the F-16's airframe were also distributed throughout the acci-dent site. Both of the Cessna's wings displayed uniform leading edge crush damage throughout their spans that was oriented aft and upward. Paint transfer and rub markings oriented in a direction from the airplane's left to right were observed on the upper forward surfaces of both wings. Both fuel tanks were ruptured, and evidence of heat damage and paint blistering were observed on the upper surface of the right wing. Flight control con-tinuity was traced through overload-type cable separations from the cabin area to each flight con-trol surface. Measurement of the pitch trim actua-tor showed a position consistent with a 3 to 4-degree deflection of the tab in the nose down di-rection, and measurement of the flap actuator showed a position consistent with the flaps having been in the retracted position. The F-16 wreckage site was located about 6 nau-tical miles south of the Cessna wreckage site. The F-16 wreckage path was about 700 feet long and oriented roughly 215 degrees, with portions of the airframe distributed along the wreckage path. The wreckage displayed significant ground impact and post-impact fire-related damage. A crash-survivable memory unit (CSMU) was recovered from the wreckage, and the digital flight control system seat data recorder (DFLCS SDR) was re-covered from the airplane's ejection seat. Both memory units were forwarded to the airframe manufacturer for data extraction under the super-vision of an NTSB Vehicle Recorder Specialist. The weather conditions reported at MKS at 1055 included calm winds, 10 statute miles visibility, scattered clouds at 2,600 feet agl, a temperature of 30 degrees C, a dew point of 22 degrees C,

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