Accident Cessna 172E N7748U,
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ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 235270
 
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Date:Saturday 2 July 2016
Time:11:00
Type:Silhouette image of generic C172 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different    
Cessna 172E
Owner/operator:Private
Registration: N7748U
MSN: 17251748
Year of manufacture:1964
Engine model:Continental O-300 SER
Fatalities:Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage: Substantial
Category:Accident
Location:Salmon, ID -   United States of America
Phase: Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.)
Nature:Training
Departure airport:Salmon, ID
Destination airport:Salmon, ID
Investigating agency: NTSB
Confidence Rating: Accident investigation report completed and information captured
Narrative:
The flight instructor stated that during an instructional flight, he configured the airplane for a simulated engine failure by applying carburetor heat and decreasing the engine power. The student pilot followed emergency procedures, used the checklist, and prepared to land. When the carburetor heat control was pushed back in and the throttle was advanced, the engine suddenly lost power. The flight instructor tried restarting the engine to no avail and initiated a forced landing, during which the airplane struck a fence.
Postaccident examination of the airplane revealed that the original inline fuel strainer was replaced with an aftermarket inline fuel strainer with a manual sump valve on the strainer bowl. The inline fuel strainer drain knob from the original fuel strainer was removed from the instrument panel. The fuel strainer was drained and found to be filled about 3/4 with water. The student pilot stated that the only sumps that were drained during the preflight inspection were the wing tank sumps. He further stated that he did not know about the fuel strainer having a sump and that the flight instructor never told him about it. The flight instructor stated that he performed a preflight inspection after the student pilot had drained the wing tanks and fuel strainer sumps. He further stated that he thought the student pilot found some water in the left wing tank but did not drain the fuel strainer. It is likely that the engine lost power due to water in the inline fuel strainer, which led to the forced landing.



Probable Cause: A loss of engine power due to water in the fuel system. Contributing to the accident was an inadequate preflight inspection that failed to eliminate water from the fuel system. 

Accident investigation:
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Investigating agency: NTSB
Report number: WPR16LA133
Status: Investigation completed
Duration: 3 years and 9 months
Download report: Final report

Sources:

NTSB

Location

Revision history:

Date/timeContributorUpdates
19-Apr-2020 17:28 ASN Update Bot Added

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