Carburetor ice leads to night off-airport landing
While it's impossible to prepare
student pilots for every problem that could conceivably arise during a solo
flight, flight instructors need to ensure that their students can handle
critical issues such as carburetor ice. On Oct. 24, 2002, a student pilot was
seriously injured when the Piper Warrior he was flying crashed just north of
Lakewood Airport (N12) in Lakewood, N.J., during a night forced landing after
losing engine power.
On the day of the accident, the
student and his instructor completed a 1.7-hour training flight and returned to
the airport. The student then asked to perform a solo training flight; his
instructor approved with the caveat that the student stay within five miles of
the airport. The flight departed to the south at 6 p.m.
While descending from 3,500 feet,
several miles southeast of the airport, the student applied carburetor heat.
The engine began running very rough, so the student turned the carburetor heat
off and the engine quit. The student then performed an off-airport landing.
After the accident, the student noted
that the Warrior's engine had been running rough throughout the day. The
temperature at the time of the accident was 46 degrees Fahrenheit, and the dew
point was 25 degrees Fahrenheit.
The NTSB determined the cause of this
accident to be the student pilot's improper use of carburetor heat, resulting
in a failure to remove carburetor ice and a subsequent loss of engine power.
The student pilot might have avoided
this accident had he taken advantage of the free advice in the AOPA Air Safety
Foundation's Aircraft
Icing Safety Advisor. It says, "At the first indication of
carburetor ice, apply full carburetor heat and leave it on. The engine
may run rougher as the ice melts and goes through it, but it will smooth out
again."
A carburetor icing probability chart
shows that the temperature and dew point at the time of the accident favored
carburetor icing at both glide and cruise power.
Accident reports can be found in
ASF's accident database.
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