Piper PA-28-180 N6487J

Summary

On 8 December 2006 at about 00:25 local time, a Piper PA-28-180 registered N6487J was involved in an accident near Falcon, Colorado, United States. One person was on board and one had minor injuries. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

8 December 2006 at 00:25

Classification

Accident

Location

Falcon, Colorado, United States

Nearest airport

Meadow Lake Airport (00V)

Coordinates

38.9344, -104.5669

Aircraft

Piper PA-28-180

Registration

N6487J

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Falcon → Falcon

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

DEN07CA035

1 person had minor injuries.

loss of power due to carburetor icing. Contributing factors were weather conditions conducive to carburetor icing, unsuitable terrain available on which to make a forced landing and the tree.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the pilot, he was established on a base leg for runway 15 when the engine lost power. The pilot lined up with an adjacent road and continued for a forced landing. The pilot stated that prior to the landing he checked his carburetor heat, mixture, throttle, and magnetos in attempt to troubleshoot the power loss. He stated that he observed car lights and "swerved into [the] tree." The airplane became lodged in the tree, resulting in substantial damage. An examination of the engine and related systems revealed no anomalies. The routine aviation weather report reported, temperature minus 01 degrees Celsius (C); dewpoint, minus 05 degrees C. According to the carburetor icing probability chart conditions were conducive for "serious icing at glide power" and "serious icing at cruise power."

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.