ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 276580
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| Date: | Wednesday 16 March 2022 |
| Time: | 15:56 |
| Type: |  Aeronca 11AC Chief |
| Owner/operator: | Private |
| Registration: | N9588E |
| MSN: | 11AC-1229 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1946 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 |
| Aircraft damage: | Substantial |
| Category: | Accident |
| Location: | Harveysburg, OH -
 United States of America
|
| Phase: | Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | Warren County Airport/John Lane Field, OH (I68) |
| Warren County Airport/John Lane Field, OH (I68) | |
| Investigating agency: | NTSB |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
On March 16, 2022, about 1556 eastern daylight time, an Aeronca 11AC, N9588E, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near Harveysburg, Ohio. The pilot and passenger were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight.
Before departing on an instructional flight with a new student, the flight instructor added 10 gallons of automotive premium 93 octane fuel that contained ethanol to the airplane, which had a supplemental type certificate (STC) to be able to use automotive fuel. The instructor conducted the takeoff and initial climb to 2,500 ft mean sea level (msl). Once established, the instructor let the student handle the flight controls and instructed the student to maintain their heading but to continue to climb to 3,000 ft msl. After practicing some basic flight maneuvers, the instructor had the student fly straight and level about 2,500 ft msl over a lake. While they were roughly over the center of the lake, the engine sustained a “severe loss of power.” The instructor immediately took the controls and established best glide airspeed. He observed the oil temperature and pressure gauges to be normal. The fuel quantity gauge was still indicating full. He worked the throttle in and out but without effect. He then pulled the carburetor heat to on, but the propeller continued to windmill under no power. The lake was surrounded by high, dense trees, so he elected to conduct a forced landing to the water. During landing the airplane nosed over, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane. The instructor and student were uninjured and were able to exit the airplane and walk to shore.
The postaccident examination of the airplane and engine did not reveal any evidence of preimpact failures or malfunctions that would have precluded normal operation. A review of a carburetor icing probability chart indicated that meteorological conditions at the time of the accident were conducive to carburetor icing at glide and cruise power.
Guidance published by the automotive fuel-use STC holder advised that automotive fuel containing ethanol should not be used in the airplane as, among other things, ethanol can absorb significant amounts of water in flight, and has an affinity for water and can pull moisture from inlet air on humid days to such extent that the engine may malfunction.
Furthermore, carburetor icing is likely to occur at higher ambient temperatures, and at lower humidity with automotive fuel than with aviation fuel. The flight instructor did not know that he should not have been using automobile gasoline that contained ethanol.
Thus, the evidence in this case indicates that in addition to not using fuel containing ethanol, the flight instructor should have responded to the carburetor icing by applying full carburetor heat immediately, instead of applying it after the engine had stopped producing power, as the carburetor heat system needed hot air from the exhaust manifold while the engine was running to function properly. He also could have recognized the potential for the formation of carburetor ice and preemptively activated it to prevent the formation of carburetor ice. Therefore, it is likely the engine sustained a complete loss of engine power due to the formation of carburetor ice.
Probable Cause: A complete loss of engine power as a result of carburetor ice due to the flight instructor’s failure to effectively use carburetor heat in conditions conducive to the formation of carburetor ice.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
https://www.fox19.com/2022/03/16/plane-crashes-into-warren-county-lake-ohio-state-high-patrol-says/
https://www.cleveland.com/nation/2022/03/pilot-student-ok-after-plane-crashes-into-ohio-lake.html
https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/warren-county/waynesville/dispatch-plane-crashes-in-caesar-creek-lake-no-injuries-reported
https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=104793
Location
Media:
This is what’s left of the Plane that crashed into the Warren County lake at 4 p.m.
— Payton marshall (@paytontvnews) March 16, 2022
Sargent Burd says two males were on the plane. Both are ok and have been released from Wayne Township EMS. @FOX19 pic.twitter.com/w8A3Ak0amB
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 17-Mar-2022 10:58 | gerard57 | Added |
| 17-Mar-2022 11:39 | RobertMB | Updated [Time, Aircraft type, Location, Source, Embed code, Damage, Narrative] |
| 17-Mar-2022 12:08 | RobertMB | Updated [Registration, Cn, Phase, Departure airport, Source, Embed code] |
| 23-Mar-2024 22:50 | Captain Adam | Updated [Time, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Category, Accident report] |
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