Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sacramento, California 95834
Sunday, March 31, 1996 15:54 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
During the final leg of a solo cross-country flight, the pilot reported to TRACON controllers that he was losing power and going down. The aircraft landed in a marsh area and nosed over after the landing gear encountered soft mud. The recording hour meter onboard the aircraft showed it had flown 4.6 hours since departing on the multiple stop round robin flight. Fueling records at the midpoint airport disclosed that the aircraft tanks were topped with 9.6 gallons of 100LL fuel. FAA inspectors performed a preliminary examination of the aircraft during the recovery operation and found the fuel system intact. No evidence of a fuel spill was noted under the airplane; however, an odor of fuel was detected from the ground. Just over 3 pints of fuel was drained from the fuel system. An analysis of flight manual performance charts revealed that the aircraft should have had sufficient fuel to complete the trip. Following aircraft recovery, a test run of the engine was conducted utilizing the existing airframe plumbing and electrical systems. The engine started and operated satisfactorily. A detailed examination of the aircraft disclosed no airworthiness discrepancies. The closest official weather observation station to the accident site was 5 miles east; it was reporting a temperature and dew point of 74 and 47 degrees, respectively. According to a carburetor icing probability chart, the temperature/dew point spread fell in a region on the chart annotated 'moderate icing --- cruise power or serious icing --- glide power.'
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
A loss of engine power due to carburetor ice and the student's failure to use carburetor heat. The carburetor icing (weather) condition was a related factor.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/31/1996 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1554 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | SACRAMENTO |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 95834 |
| Event Date Year | 1996 |
| Event Date Month | 3 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1546 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 90 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SAC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 21 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 18000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 15000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 15 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 8 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 160 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 733 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 31 1996 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1652 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2000 9:54AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5266Q |
| NTSB Number | LAX96LA151 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | VFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 150L |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 150L |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 15073166 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2150 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 2 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Oct 11 1995 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 155 |
| Airframe Hours | 7283 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | SACRAMENTO AERO SERVICES, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3801 AIRPORT ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | SACRAMENTO |
| Aircraft Owner State | CA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 95834 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | AMERICAN AERO FLYING CLUB |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | |
| Operator City | |
| Operator State | |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | |
| Operator Code | |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | -- |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | -- |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | -- |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | RDD |
| Departure City | REDDING |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1345 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | Q96 |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Emergency landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:34AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |