Friday, April 17, 2015

Cessna 172M Skyhawk, N12842, Hawaii Flight Academy: Accident occurred April 14, 2015 at Hilo International Airport (PHTO), Hawaii

Aviation Accident Final Report - National Transportation Safety Board: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdf

Analysis 

The flight instructor and pilot receiving instruction reported that, during the preflight inspection before the local instructional flight, they drained water from the fuel tanks. After departure, they flew for about 1 hour and then returned to the airport to practice touch-and-go landings. During the approach for landing, the pilot receiving instruction accomplished a no-flap "slip to landing." After touchdown, he applied power for the takeoff, and the airplane then reached between about 75 and 100 ft above ground level, at which point the engine began to run irregularly, and subsequently, it lost power. The flight instructor took control of the airplane and executed a left turn away from buildings located at the end of the runway. Subsequently, the airplane impacted a grassy area northeast of the departure end of the runway.

During the postaccident examination of the airplane, water was found in the fuel sump strainer and the carburetor, which likely led to the loss of engine power. It is likely the flight instructor and pilot receiving instruction failed to ensure that all the water was drained from the tank during the preflight inspection.

Probable Cause and Findings

The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:

Water contamination in the fuel system due to the flight instructor's and pilot receiving instruction's failure to drain all the water from the system during the preflight inspection, which resulted in a loss of engine power. 

Findings

Aircraft
Fuel - Fluid condition (Cause)

Personnel issues
Preflight inspection - Student pilot (Cause)
Preflight inspection - Instructor/check pilot (Cause)




The National Transportation Safety Board did not travel to the scene of this accident.

Additional Participating Entities:
Federal Aviation Administration / Flight Standards District Office; Honolulu, Hawaii
Textron Aviation; Wichita, Kansas

Aviation Accident Factual Report - National Transportation Safety Board: https://app.ntsb.gov/pdf

Investigation Docket  - National Transportation Safety Board: https://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms

Barlow Aviation LLC: http://registry.faa.gov/N12842




NTSB Identification: WPR15LA146
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Tuesday, April 14, 2015 in Hilo, HI
Aircraft: CESSNA 172M, registration: N12842
Injuries: 3 Serious.

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 April 14, 2015, about 1345 Hawaiian standard time, a Cessna 172M, N12842, experienced a loss of engine power during initial climb from Hilo International Airport (ITO), Hilo, Hawaii. The certified flight instructor, the student pilot undergoing instruction (PUI), and one passenger sustained serious injuries. The airplane was substantially damaged during the forced landing on the grassy area near the departure end of the runway. Hawaii Flight Academy was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The local instructional flight departed Hilo about 1245. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.

The operator reported that the FI was instructing the student pilot in preparation for his private pilot practical examination. The passenger was another student pilot who was observing the training flight.

The flight crew reported that they had drained water out of the fuel tanks prior to the flight. The flight departed and flew for about 1 hour before returning to ITO to practice touch-and-go landings. The flight instructor instructed the student to perform a no flap "slip to landing" and go-around. After the aggressive slip and landing, power was applied for the takeoff. The airplane became airborne and when about 75-100 feet above ground, the engine began to run irregular and subsequently lost power. 

The FI took control of the airplane and executed a left turn away from buildings, which were located at the end of the runway. The airplane impacted onto the grass area northeast of the departure end of runway 03.

During an examination of the airplane, about 8 ounces of fluid was drained from the fuel sump strainer, and 5 ounces of the fluid appeared to be water. The carburetor was removed from the engine and an unmeasured amount of fluid was drained from the carburetor; about 90% of it appeared to be water. A water paste test was utilized, and the indication was positive for water.


The operator commented that examination of the inside of the fuel tanks revealed that the sump drain valves protruded up about 1/2 inch above the bottom of the tanks. The operator suggested that pilots drain the engine sump completely, rock both wings vigorously during preflight, and drain fuel from the engine and wing sumps again.



NTSB Identification: WPR15LA146 
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Tuesday, April 14, 2015 in Hilo, HI
Aircraft: CESSNA 172M, registration: N12842
Injuries: 3 Serious.

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 April 14, 2015, about 1350 Hawaiian standard time (HST), a Cessna 172M, N12842, lost engine power during takeoff following a touch-and-go landing, and the pilot made a forced landing at Hilo International Airport (ITO), Hilo, Hawaii. Hawaii Flight Academy was operating the airplane under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 91. The certified flight instructor (CFI), student pilot undergoing instruction (PUI), and one passenger sustained serious injuries; the airplane sustained substantial damage. The local instructional flight departed Hilo about 1350. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and no flight plan had been filed.

The operator reported that the CFI was instructing the student pilot in preparation for his private pilot practical examination. The passenger was another student pilot who was observing the training flight.

The flight crew reported that they had drained a lot of water out of the fuel tanks prior to the flight. They departed and flew for about 1 hour, and returned to ITO to practice touch-and-go landings. They made an aggressive slip on the first touch-and-go. After applying power they were about 50-100 feet agl when the engine lost all power.

The CFI took control of the airplane and executed a left turn away from the buildings, which were located towards the end of the runway. The airplane impacted onto the grass area northeast of the departure end of runway 03.

Postaccident examination of the airplane fuel system revealed about 8 oz of fluid, which was drained from the fuel sump strainer, 5 oz of which appeared to be water. The carburetor was removed from the engine and an unmeasured amount of fluid was drained from the carburetor, which appeared to be 90% water. A water paste test was utilized and the indication was positive for water.







A 21-year-old man says he’s lucky to be alive after the single-engine Cessna he was in crashed in Hilo.

The state Department of Transportation said the plane was executing touch-and-go maneuvers when it crashed at Hilo International Airport shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Flight student Michael Dowsett spoke to the media for the first time since it happened, accompanied by his parents and doctor.

Dowsett said it was supposed to be his last training flight before he started testing for his private pilot license.

“We took off and we were maneuvering up by Akaka Falls, just doing some polish work, making sure… I got all the points marked off perfectly in the test,” he said.

Dowsett said they flew to the airport to practice and that’s when the engine lost power.

“We were already at the end of the runway and we were maybe 50 to 100 feet off the ground and had no power and normally, if we had runway left, we would’ve simply just nosed over and we would’ve just got some airspeed up and just flared and just done our regular landing,” he said. “The problem was there was no runway in front of us anymore. It was just the houses that were out there, so the only option there, which we also practiced, was we gotta bank it hard and fast to try to get back to a safe place to land.

“We must have had at least a 45-degree angle of bank in there, because we needed to get back like now,” he continued. “I remember once we had it over, I was looking and I could actually start seeing the blades of grass already.”

Dowsett said, at that moment, he believed he was going to die.

“You hear about it in movies and TV and whatnot. I really actually genuinely did think that was it. It was so surreal, it was like a dream. I thought for sure that we were going to, that when we crashed that it was gonna be a big fire ball and that was it. I thought it was game over and then after the crash, there was fuel leaking out of the wing and into the cabin and I thought, I thought this was it.”

Dowsett said he shattered his left ankle and broke two bones in his leg. He also had lacerations, fractured his cheekbone and required stitches to his eye and knee.

Two other victims in the plane, the flight instructor and a female student pilot, were flown to the trauma center at Queen’s Medical Center.

Dowsett and his family sends them their thoughts and prayers.

Original article can be found here:   http://khon2.com

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