Cessna 150 N45083

Summary

On 17 August 2020 at about 21:15 local time, a Cessna 150 registered N45083, operated by Benjamin Enterprises Inc., was involved in an accident near Surry, Maine, 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

17 August 2020 at 21:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Surry, Maine, United States

Nearest airport

Hancock County-Bar Harbor (BHB)

Coordinates

44.4317, -68.4800

Aircraft

Cessna 150

Registration

N45083

Category

Airplane

Year built

1975

Engines

1

Operator

Benjamin Enterprises Inc.

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Morrisville → Surry

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA20LA289

Nobody was injured.

The pilot’s failure to use carburetor heat in conditions conducive to serious carburetor icing at glide power, which resulted in a loss of engine power and a forced ditching in water.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The pilot reported that, during the descent into the traffic pattern at the destination airport (after an uneventful cross-country flight en route), the engine sputtered and then lost power while the propeller continued to windmill. The pilot adjusted the throttle and rocked the wings to restart the engine but was unable to restore power. The pilot elected to ditch the airplane near the shoreline in a bay. He and his passenger egressed and swam to the beach, and the airplane partially sank and nosed over after their evacuation. The fuselage and wings sustained substantial damage. After the airplane was recovered to land, postaccident examination did not reveal any evidence of a preimpact mechanical malfunction. The quantity of fuel that remained on board could not be determined due a substantial amount of salt water that had entered one of the fuel tanks; the other tank contained no fuel or salt water. About 1 gallon of fuel was drained from the gascolator. The pilot believed he utilized about 2 hours and 10 minutes of the available 3 hours of fuel on board. The flight time the pilot reported was consistent with radar data. Review of a carburetor icing probability chart for the given temperature and dew point revealed that the conditions were conducive for serious icing at glide power. The pilot could not recall whether he applied carburetor heat during the descent to land. Postaccident examination of the lever found that it was in the OFF position. The pilot added that applying carburetor heat during flight was something he was not normally accustomed to, given that most of his flight experience was with fuel-injected engines, which do not require carburetor heat. It is likely that the carburetor heat was not utilized for the descent and approach to landing, which likely allowed carburetor ice to form, which resulted in the loss of engine power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.