Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Ivins, Utah 84738
Friday, March 9, 2001 16:45 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The pilot said there was an intermittent loss of engine power during cruise flight . He suspected carburetor icing "since the Stromberg carburetor, standard [equipment] on the Ercoupe 415C, is prone to icing," and he immediately applied carburetor heat. The carburetor air temperature gauge indicated 10 degrees C. The engine "continued a pattern of power off/power on/power off in cycles of 4 or 5 seconds." He left the carburetor heat on but soon realized that his rate of descent left insufficient altitude to arrive at the destination airport. He landed on rough desert terrain, extensively damaging both wings and the nose and left main landing gears. According to the Carburetor Icing Graph, a temperature of 12 degrees C. and a dew point of 4 degrees C. [as reported by the nearest weather observation station] could result in serious icing at glide power, and a temperature of 10 degrees C. (as reported by the pilot) could result in serious icing at cruise power.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The unsuitable terrain on which to make a forced landing. A contributing factors was the carburetor icing conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 3/9/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1645 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Ivins |
| Event State | UTAH |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 84738 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| 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 | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1655 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SGU |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2941 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6500 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 4 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 90 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 17 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.71 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 3533 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 1 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10234 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NW OPERATIONS CENTER |
| NTSB Notification Date | Mar 9 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1730 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 30 2001 11:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Salt Lake City, Utah |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N1121J |
| NTSB Number | DEN01LA065 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | None |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | ERCO |
| Aircraft Model | 415-C |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3833 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1400 |
| 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 | Feb 11 1981 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 33 |
| Airframe Hours | 1393 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Ralph E. Huddlestone |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 235 N. Ash Creek Dr. |
| Aircraft Owner City | Toquerville |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84774 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 70 West 200 North |
| Operator City | Ivins |
| Operator State | UT |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 84738 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 1L8 |
| Departure City | Hurricane |
| Departure State | UT |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1615 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SGU |
| Destination City | St. George |
| Destination State | UT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 1 2001 12:44PM |
| User who most recently changed record | MCBM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |