14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, October 21, 2012 in Mansfield, MA
Probable Cause Approval Date: 11/06/2013
Aircraft: CESSNA 150H, registration: N7250S
Injuries: 2 Uninjured.
NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
The flight instructor stated that during takeoff, when the airplane reached 250 feet above ground level, it "stopped climbing." The flight instructor assumed control of the airplane from the student and verified the position of the engine controls; however, despite adjusting airspeeds between best rate and best angle of climb, the airplane continued to descend until it settled into trees off the departure end of the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the empennage and tail sections. The occupants egressed without injury. After the accident, the airplane was removed from the trees by local authorities and placed inverted on the ground. As a result, all residual fuel drained from the airplane, and no fuel was available for testing. Examination of the airframe revealed no preimpact mechanical anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. The engine was removed from the airframe and placed in a test cell where it started immediately, accelerated smoothly, and ran continuously at rated power. Atmospheric conditions at the time of the accident were conducive to serious icing at any power setting, and the flight instructor stated that he ensured that the carburetor heat control was in its cold position during the takeoff. Therefore, it is likely that the loss of engine power was related to the accumulation of carburetor ice during takeoff.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:
The pilots’ failure to apply carburetor heat during takeoff, which resulted in a partial loss of engine power due to the formation of carburetor ice.
On October 21, 2012, about 1330 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 150H, N7250S, was substantially damaged during a forced landing after takeoff from Mansfield Municipal Airport (1B9), Mansfield, Massachusetts. The certificated flight instructor (CFI) and student pilot were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the instructional flight, which was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
According to the CFI, the purpose of the flight was to practice takeoffs and landings at 1B9 and then proceed to a practice area for "aircraft familiarization." The student performed the first landing to a full stop. The second landing attempt was aborted, and another traffic pattern was completed. The CFI "assisted" the subsequent touch-and-go landing. The landing was successful, the flaps were retracted to 20 degrees, carburetor heat was closed, and full engine power was applied. The airplane climbed as expected at 600 feet per minute and the flaps were retracted fully when the airplane climbed above treetop height.
The CFI stated that when the airplane reached 250 feet above ground level, it "stopped climbing." He assumed control of the airplane, verified the position of the engine controls, and despite adjusting airspeeds between best rate and best angle of climb, the airplane continued to descend until it settled into trees off the departure end of the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the empennage and tail sections. The airplane came to rest in the trees, and the occupants climbed down from the airplane uninjured.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aviation safety inspector who responded to the accident site, the airplane had been removed from the trees by local authorities, and was placed inverted on the ground. As a consequence, all residual fuel drained from the airplane, and no fuel was retained for examination or testing. Examination of the airframe revealed no pre-impact mechanical anomalies.
The CFI held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single engine land, multi-engine land, and instrument airplane. He also held a flight instructor certificate with a rating for airplane single engine. He reported 1,730 total hours of flight experience, of which 53 hours were in the accident airplane make and model.
At 1352, the weather reported at Taunton Municipal Airport (TAN), 11 miles southeast of 1B9, included winds from 290 degrees at 10 knots, variable between 270 and 330 degrees. There were scattered clouds at 4,800 feet with 10 miles visibility. The temperature was 10 degrees C and the dew point was 5 degrees C.
Review of Advisory Circular 91-51A EFFECT OF ICING ON AIRCRAFT CONTROL AND AIRPLANE DEICE AND ANTI-ICE SYSTEMS states in paragraph 5 DISCUSSION b. " There are two kinds of icing that are significant to aviation: structural icing and induction icing....c. Small aircraft engines commonly employ a carburetor fuel system or a pressure fuel injection system to supply fuel for combustion. Both types of induction systems hold the potential for icing which can cause engine failure. (1) The pilot should be aware that carburetor icing can occur at temperatures between 13 degrees Celsius (C) (20 degrees Fahrenheit (F) and +21C (70F) when there is visible moisture or high humidity. This can occur in the carburetor because vaporization of fuel, combined with the expansion of air as it flows through the carburetor, causes sudden cooling, sometimes by a significant amount within a fraction of a second. Carburetor ice can be detected by a drop in rpm in fixed pitch propeller airplanes and a drop in manifold pressure in constant speed propeller airplanes. In both types, usually there will be a roughness in engine operation. Some engines are equipped with carburetor heat for use in both prevention and removal of ice."
According to a carburetor icing probability chart, the atmospheric conditions at the time of the accident were conducive to serious icing at any power setting.
The engine was removed from the airframe and shipped to the manufacturer for examination and a test run under the supervision of an NTSB investigator. On February 28, 2013, the engine was placed in a test cell where it started immediately, accelerated smoothly, and ran continuously at rated power. The engine was shut down and restarted “several times” with the same result each time.
http://www.avclaims.com/N7250S.html
http://registry.faa.gov/N7250S
Credit Mansfield Fire Department
Credit Mansfield Fire Department
Credit Mansfield Fire Department
Photo Credit: Mansfield Fire Department
IDENTIFICATION
Regis#: 7250S Make/Model: C150 Description: 150, A150, Commuter, Aerobat
Date: 10/21/2012 Time: 1710
Event Type: Accident Highest Injury: None Mid Air: N Missing: N
Damage: Substantial
LOCATION
City: MANSFIELD State: MA Country: US
DESCRIPTION
AIRCRAFT CRASHED INTO TREES SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, NEAR MANSFIELD, MA
INJURY DATA Total Fatal: 0
# Crew: 1 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Pass: 0 Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
# Grnd: Fat: 0 Ser: 0 Min: 0 Unk:
OTHER DATA
Activity: Unknown Phase: Unknown Operation: OTHER
FAA FSDO: BOSTON, MA (EA61) Entry date: 10/22/2012
NTSB Identification: ERA13LA034
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Sunday, October 21, 2012 in Manfield, ME
Aircraft: CESSNA 150H, registration: N7250S
Injuries: 2 Uninjured.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
On October 21, 2012, about 1330 eastern daylight time, a Cessna 150H, N7250S, was substantially damaged during a forced landing after takeoff from Mansfield Municipal Airport (1B9), Mansfield, Massachusetts. The certificated flight instructor (CFI) and a student pilot were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the instructional flight, which was conducted under the provisions of Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91.
According to the CFI, the purpose of the flight was to practice takeoffs and landings at 1B9 and then proceed to a practice area for "aircraft familiarization." The student performed the first landing to a full stop, the second landing attempted was aborted, and another traffic pattern was completed. The CFI "assisted" the subsequent touch-and-go landing. The landing was successful, the flaps were retracted to 20 degrees, carburetor heat was closed, and full engine power was applied. The airplane climbed as expected at 600 feet per minute and the flaps were retracted fully when the airplane climbed above treetop height.
The CFI stated that when the airplane reached 250 feet above ground level, it "stopped climbing." He assumed control of the airplane, verified the position of the engine controls, and despite adjusting airspeeds between best-rate and best-angle-of-climb, the airplane continued to descend until it settled into trees off the departure end of the runway, resulting in substantial damage to the empennage and tail sections. The airplane came to rest in the trees, and the occupants climbed down from the airplane uninjured.
The CFI held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single engine, multi-engine, and instrument airplane. He also held a flight instructor certificate with a rating for airplane single engine. He reported 1,730 total hours of flight experience, of which 53 hours were in the accident airplane make and model.
The airplane was manufactured in 1967, and its most recent annual inspection was completed September 26, 2012, at 6,814 total aircraft hours.
At 1352, the weather reported at Taunton Municipal Airport (TAN), 11 southeast of 1B9, included winds from 290 degrees at 10 knots, variable between 270 and 330 degrees. There were scattered clouds at 4,800 feet with 10 miles visibility. The temperature was 10 degrees C and the dew point was 5 degrees C.
An examination of the airplane's engine was scheduled for a later date.
Authorities were on-scene near the Mansfield Municipal Airport Sunday afternoon after responding to a small airplane crash involving a student pilot and an instructor.
Mansfield Police received a call at 1:18 p.m. Sunday reporting that a 1968 Cessna 150H airplane had endured an emergency crash landing into a tree near the Mansfield Animal Shelter in the area of Fruit Street.
The plane, which came out of an airfield in Marshfield, lost power during takeoff. A student pilot and instructor, both males, were doing what is referred to as "touch and go" landings, which involves landing on a runway and taking off again without coming to a full stop.
“They lost power on the takeoff, they were too far down the runway to abort the takeoff, so they did take off and did not have enough power to maintain forward air speed so they set it down, pancaked it," Mansfield Police Chief Arthur O'Neill said Sunday.
The instructor took over operation of the airplane and crash landed it into a tree, using a practice called pancaking. The plane was badly damaged and became stuck in a tree about 30-35 feet in the air. The two climbed out of the cockpit and climbed down the tree to safety.
“The instructor knew that they had a problem and he just called out that he was taking the controls and used his experience and made a safe, all things considered, crash landing,” O'Neill said. “He did save their lives. We had a crash here a few years ago where two people were killed where had someone been at the controls that knew how to do that they wouldn't have crashed the way they did. So it was that knowledge and experience that saved them.”
Mansfield Fire Chief Neal Boldrighini said, “On arrival the two victims were actually down on the ground. We did an evaluation on them medically, they signed off, there was no real injury there were just some scrapes and bruises.”
The Massachusetts Aeronautics Division and State Police were on-scene investigating the crash.
“We do have an active fuel leak at this time and have been from the start. We've applied foam to the ground to keep the vapors down and we're looking at approximately 20 gallons of fuel that in the end will come out of this plane,” Boldrighini said. “We're maintaining a presence until we can figure out how to get [the plane] down. We're working with the aeronautics people and the airport to make that happen and make it safe.”
To read the full story on Mansfield Patch, click here.
