Cessna 150L N5266Q

Summary

On 31 March 1996 at about 23:54 local time, a Cessna 150L registered N5266Q, operated by American Aero Flying Club, was involved in an accident near Sacramento, California, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

31 March 1996 at 23:54

Classification

Accident

Location

Sacramento, California, United States

Coordinates

38.6390, -121.5396

Aircraft

Cessna 150L

Registration

N5266Q

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

American Aero Flying Club

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Redding → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX96LA151

1 person was seriously injured.

A loss of engine power due to carburetor ice and the student's failure to use carburetor heat. The carburetor icing (weather) condition was a related factor.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

During the final leg of a solo cross-country flight, the pilot reported to TRACON controllers that he was losing power and going down. The aircraft landed in a marsh area and nosed over after the landing gear encountered soft mud. The recording hour meter onboard the aircraft showed it had flown 4.6 hours since departing on the multiple stop round robin flight. Fueling records at the midpoint airport disclosed that the aircraft tanks were topped with 9.6 gallons of 100LL fuel. FAA inspectors performed a preliminary examination of the aircraft during the recovery operation and found the fuel system intact. No evidence of a fuel spill was noted under the airplane; however, an odor of fuel was detected from the ground. Just over 3 pints of fuel was drained from the fuel system. An analysis of flight manual performance charts revealed that the aircraft should have had sufficient fuel to complete the trip. Following aircraft recovery, a test run of the engine was conducted utilizing the existing airframe plumbing and electrical systems. The engine started and operated satisfactorily. A detailed examination of the aircraft disclosed no airworthiness discrepancies. The closest official weather observation station to the accident site was 5 miles east; it was reporting a temperature and dew point of 74 and 47 degrees, respectively. According to a carburetor icing probability chart, the temperature/dew point spread fell in a region on the chart annotated 'moderate icing --- cruise power or serious icing --- glide power.'

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.