Home Documents Images Message Board
(Use your browser's back button to return to the page that you were previously viewing.)
| NTSB Identification: MIA99LA135. The docket is stored in the (offline) NTSB Imaging System. |
| Accident occurred Tuesday, April 20, 1999 at S. ROCKLEDGE, FL |
| Aircraft: Cessna 150M, registration: N66560 |
| Injuries: 1 Serious |
| Event: 20001205X00536 Status: Final Report Approved On Friday, March 31, 2000 |
| NTSB Preliminary Narrative (6120.19A) |
| On April 20, 1999, about 1600 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 150M, N66560, registered to Brittania Flight Center, Inc., operating as a 14 CFR |
| Part 91 instructional flight, crashed while attempting an emergency landing, following a loss of engine power near Rockledge, Florida. Visual |
| meteorological conditions prevailed and no flight plan was filed. The airplane received substantial damage and the student pilot, the sole |
| occupant, sustained minor injuries. The flight originated from Winter Park, Florida, about 1 hour before the accident. |
| According to eyewitnesses, the airplane engine's sound lessened and stopped completely. The engine sounded quiet as the pilot appeared to |
| look for a landing area. The airplane crashed in a residential area. |
| According to the student pilot, he was flying his solo cross-country flight from Winter Haven's Gilbert Airport to Cocoa's Merritt Island Airport. |
| About 10 miles west of Merritt Island, he radioed Merritt unicom for traffic advisories and to relay his intentions. He stated he was in cruise flight |
| at 1,800 feet msl, 2,300 (engine rpm), and mixture leaned "appropriately". Immediately after his radio transmission, he noticed an uncommanded |
| reduction in engine rpm, and a loss of power. He got no response to increasing his throttle setting, so he began emergency procedures for an |
| engine failure, except that he does not remember using carburetor heat. His two options for a forced landing site were a road or a field. The |
| road contained too much traffic and the field was ringed by high tension wires and contained playing children. |
| According to an FAA inspector, the airplane struck a tree and came to rest in the front yard of a private residence on its side, right wing up. |
| The FAA inspector could not estimate the amount of fuel aboard, but stated the left tank contained enough fuel that the fuel line and vent line had |
| to be plugged to prevent spillage when the wing was removed. The gascolator and carburetor contained fuel. Fire rescue personnel |
| responding to the accident mentioned they sandbagged the storm sewer drain to prevent a "significant amount" of fuel from entering the storm |
| drain. The carburetor squirted fuel through the venturi when the throttle linkage was manually pumped. The airplane was equipped with properly |
| vented fuel tank caps. Testing of fuel for water content was negative. Disassembly examination of the engine and its components revealed no |
| mechanical failures or malfunctions. Aircraft records revealed an appropriate supplemental type certificate (STC), for automotive fuel use. The |
| spark plugs and combustion chambers exhibited abnormally dark coloration, and it is the FAA inspector's opinion that the coloration is the result |
| of, "..a fuel rich mixture which would be consistent with carburetor icing". |
| Reference to carburetor icing charts reveals that an ambient temperature of 24 degrees C and a dew point of 9 degrees C, as reported by |
| Titusville (TIX) and Melbourne (MLB) for the time period of the accident, would put the flight's probability within the region labeled, "visible icing at |
| glide and cruise power." A copy of the chart is included in this report under, "Other Pertinent Forms and Reports". |
| NTSB Final Narrative (6120.4) |
| The student pilot stated he was nearing his destination on the first leg of his solo cross-country, still in cruise flight, when the engine suddenly |
| lost power. He stated that he performed the procedures for engine failure, but does not remember using carburetor heat. He did not regain |
| engine power, and was forced to make an emergency landing in a residential area, sustaining minor injuries and substantially damaging the |
| airplane. Examination of the aircraft, engine, fuel system, and all components by an FAA inspector revealed no failures or malfunctions. The |
| temperature and dew point reported by a station 15 miles from the accident would have put this flight within the region labeled, 'visible icing at |
| glide and cruise power' using carburetor icing probability charts. |
| NTSB Probable Cause Narrative |
| A total loss of engine power while in cruise flight due to the pilot's failure to use carburetor heat during carburetor icing conditions and the |
| subsequent emergency landing to unsuitable terrain and collision with a tree. |
| Occurrences and Sequence of Events |
| Occurrence: 1, LOSS OF ENGINE POWER(TOTAL) - NONMECHANICAL |
| Phase of Operation: CRUISE |
| Sequence of Events for Occurrence Number: 1 |
| 1 (Finding) WEATHER CONDITION / CARBURETOR ICING CONDITIONS / (0) |
| 2 (Finding) FUEL SYSTEM, CARBURETOR / ICE / (0) |
| 3 ( Cause ) CARBURETOR HEAT / NOT USED / PILOT IN COMMAND |
| Occurrence: 2, FORCED LANDING |
| Phase of Operation: EMERGENCY DESCENT/LANDING |
| Occurrence: 3, IN FLIGHT COLLISION WITH OBJECT |
| Phase of Operation: EMERGENCY LANDING |
| Sequence of Events for Occurrence Number: 3 |
| 1 (Finding) TERRAIN CONDITIONS / NONE SUITABLE / (0) |
| 2 (Finding) TERRAIN CONDITIONS / RESIDENTIAL AREA / (0) |
| 3 (Finding) OBJECT / TREE(S) / (0) |
Home Documents Images Message Board
(Use your browser's back button to return to the page that you were previously viewing.)