Cessna 162 N552ES

Summary

On 28 September 2017 at about 21:48 local time, a Cessna 162 registered N552ES was involved in an accident near Huntsville, Alabama, 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

28 September 2017 at 21:48

Classification

Accident

Location

Huntsville, Alabama, United States

Nearest airport

Huntsville Executive Airport T (MDQ)

Coordinates

34.8972, -86.5572

Aircraft

Cessna 162

Registration

N552ES

Category

Airplane

Year built

2013

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Huntsville → Huntsville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA17LA341

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor’s failure to use carburetor heat, which resulted in the total loss of engine power due to carburetor icing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

During an instructional flight, the student pilot and flight instructor were returning to the airport. While descending to traffic pattern altitude with the carburetor heat off, the student applied full power to level off, but the engine lost total power. The instructor took control of the airplane and pumped the throttle, which resulted in a brief surge of power, followed by a total loss of power. The instructor then performed a forced landing to a field, during which the airplane impacted trees, which resulted in substantial damage to the left wing and aileron, right wingtip, and the fuselage. Postaccident examination of the engine revealed no evidence of any preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation, and during an engine test-run, the engine started and ran continuously at multiple power settings. The atmospheric conditions at the time of the accident were conducive to the accumulation of serious carburetor icing at glide power. Therefore, given the atmospheric conditions and that the instructor did not use carburetor heat, it is likely that the carburetor accumulated ice during the descent, which resulted in the total loss of engine power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.