Piper PA28 N4673R

Summary

On 18 October 2020 at about 00:42 local time, a Piper PA28 registered N4673R was involved in an accident near Puyallup, Washington, United States. 3 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

18 October 2020 at 00:42

Classification

Accident

Location

Puyallup, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Pierce County/Thun Field (PLU)

Coordinates

47.0877, -122.2911

Aircraft

Piper PA28

Registration

N4673R

Category

Airplane

Year built

1966

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Spanaway → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

WPR21LA017

Nobody was injured.

A partial loss of engine power as a result of carburetor icing and the flight instructors failure to use carburetor heat.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The student pilot reported that they conducted two uneventful touch-and-go landings. After the second touch-and-go, they were climbing with full power through about 500 ft when the engine sputtered momentarily. The instructor took over the flight controls and continued a left crosswind when the engine power reduced to idle. The instructor turned the airplane back toward the airport and ensured the fuel selector was on, throttle and mixture were full forward, and magnetos on both. The student pilot pressed the starter to see if that would help, but the engine continued at idle, and the airplane continued to descend. Unable to make it to the airport, the instructor made an off-airport landing during which the airplane touched down momentarily and bounced back into ground effect. It impacted a few trees before coming to a stop in a parking lot. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and fuselage. A postaccident examination and run of the engine did not reveal any anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The temperature and dewpoint conditions were plotted and fell on the line between serious icing at cruise power and serious icing at glide power. The instructor reported that he did not use carburetor heat once the engine started to sputter.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.