Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Flying N Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Luthersville, Georgia 30251
Thursday, April 6, 1989 16:00 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
THE PLT MADE LONG SLOW DESCENT & OVERFLIGHT OF AIRSTRIP TO ENSURE NO ONE WAS ON RWY. HE WAS FLYING A LOOSE RIGHT ECHELONFORMATION WITH ANOTHER ACFT. AT THE END OF THE RWY THE LEAD ACFT TURNED LEFT & CLIMBED TO ENTER DOWNWIND. THE ACCIDENT ACFT TURNED RIGHT, CLIMBED, THEN TURNED LEFT TO ENTER A LEFT DOWNWIND. AS POWER WAS APPLIED THE PLT RPTED HE HAD A PROBELM, WHICH HE DID NOT SPECIFY. THE ACFT CONTINUED IN A LEFT WING DOWN, MODERATELY STEEP DESCENT TO IMPACT WITH TREES& THE GROUND. THE ACFT CAUGHT FIRE AFTER IMPACT & BURNED. PROP DAMAGE DEMONSTRATED ENGINE WAS NOT AT HIGH POWER SETTING.THE ENGINE WAS LATER RUN IN A TEST CELL AT NEAR SPECIFICATION POWER. THE SPARK PLUGS WERE SOOTED INDICATING A RICH MIXTURE. CONDITIONS WERE SUITABLE FOR LIGHT CARB ICE WITH AVGAS. THE ACFT USED AUTOGAS WHICH ALLOWS CARB ICE SOONER & AT HIGHER TEMPS. CARB HEAT WAS IN THE COLD/OFF POSITION. CARB ICE FORMED WHICH RESTRICTED AIRFLOW & RESULTED IN OVERLY RICH MIXTURE PRECLUDING POWER INCREASE. THE PLT DID NOT EXTEND FLAPS OR SLOW AIRPLANE PRIOR TO TREE IMPACT.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
PILOT'S FAILURE TO TAKE ACTION THAT WOULD PREVENT THE FORMATION OF CARBURETOR ICE. FOLLOWING THE ENGINE MALFUNCTION, THE PILOT DID NOT CONFIGURE THE AIRPLANE SO AS TO REDUCE THE SEVERITY OF THE IMPACT, I.E. EXTEND THE FLAPS AND SLOW THE AIRPLANE. CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACCIDENT WAS THE LACK OF A REQUIREMENT BY THE FAA FOR THE AUTOGAS STC HOLDER TO PUBLISH CARBURETOR ICING PROBABILITY IMFORMATION.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/6/1989 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1600 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | LUTHERSVILLE |
| Event State | GEORGIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 30251 |
| Event Date Year | 1989 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | |
| Event Location Longitude | |
| Event Location Airport | FLYING N |
| 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 | 0 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 0 |
| Airport Elevation | 870 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Unknown |
| Investigator's weather source | Unknown |
| Time of the weather observation | 1554 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 30 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | ATL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 1026 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 30 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 25 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 310 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 21 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 900 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 728 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 6 1989 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1705 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | 40232 |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 13 2000 12:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5458B |
| NTSB Number | ATL89FA122 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Destroyed |
| Aircraft Fire | Ground |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | CESSNA |
| Aircraft Model | 182 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 182 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 18233458 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2550 |
| 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 | Jan 1 1989 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4 |
| Airframe Hours | 3061 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | RALPH C BAGWELL |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 7412 5TH AVE. SO. |
| Aircraft Owner City | BIRMINGHAM |
| Aircraft Owner State | AL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 35206 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | WILLIAM H. BEDDOW |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | ROUTE 1 BOX18Q |
| Operator City | LUTHERSVILLE |
| Operator State | GA |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 30251 |
| 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) | Business |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 3M6 |
| Departure City | HUNTSVILLE |
| Departure State | AL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 0 |
| Departure Time Zone | |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | |
| Destination City | |
| Destination State | |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 2 2001 10:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 16 |
| Runway Length | 3000 |
| Runway Width | 50 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |