Piper PA 28-180 N9241J

Summary

On 4 September 2016 at about 10:35 local time, a Piper PA 28-180 registered N9241J was involved in an accident near Cuba, New Mexico, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

4 September 2016 at 10:35

Classification

Accident

Location

Cuba, New Mexico, United States

Coordinates

36.0114, -106.9706

Aircraft

Piper PA 28-180

Registration

N9241J

Category

Airplane

Year built

1966

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Levelland → Farmington

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

CEN16LA349

Nobody was injured.

A partial loss of engine power for reasons that could not be determined based on available information.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot and passenger departed on a night cross-country flight using flight following. About 2 hours after departure, the engine suddenly lost partial power. The pilot checked the engine gauges, which were all in the green, and advised air traffic control (ATC) of the loss of engine power. The pilot switched fuel tanks, then activated the carburetor heat. He tried switching magnetos and enriching the mixture for "a few seconds." He then leaned the mixture again and "deactivated the carb heat," all with no changes observed in engine power. The pilot declared an emergency with ATC and used his tablet computer's navigation application to align the airplane over a road. Upon touchdown, the airplane's wing impacted a guardrail, and the airplane subsequently nosed over. Although weather conditions at the nearest weather reporting facility about 50 miles from the accident site were conducive to the accumulation of serious carburetor icing at cruise power, the investigation could not determine whether the loss of power was a result of carburetor ice, and no postaccident examination of the engine was conducted to rule out other causes.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.