Cessna 152 Strikes Power Line During Pre-Solo Flight (N5366B)

Incident Overview and Witness Accounts During a pre-solo dual instructional flight in the traffic pattern, a Cessna 152 impacted a power line 1.5 nautical miles south of a non-towered airport. A witness observed the Cessna flying over runway 16 and, approximately one minute later, saw a twin-engine turboprop MU-2 land on runway 34. This witness reported that before the MU-2 exited the runway, the electricity went off at the airport. Witnesses south of the airport reported seeing and hearing a small single-engine airplane reduce power, descend low over their houses, and continue south. A witness southwest of the airport heard a twin-engine airplane heading northeast and, approximately 30 seconds later, observed the Cessna impact the power line. A 911 call reporting the accident was recorded at 1749, and an electrical power outage was recorded at 1750. These times could not be correlated with radar data, which indicated that, at 1749, the Cessna was 1/4 nm northeast of the airport on a left base for runway 16, while the MU-2 was 5 nm northeast of the airport. Since no further radar returns were recorded for the Cessna, it was not possible to ascertain whether an imminent collision threat occurred between the Cessna and the MU-2. Post-accident examination of the Cessna revealed no evidence of mechanical discrepancies. The sun set at 1756 on a heading of 238 degrees from the airport, indicating the Cessna pilots would have had to look into the setting sun to see the power line, which was located west of the extended centerline of runway 16.