Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Chehalis-Centralia Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chehalis, Washington 98532
Monday, December 23, 2002 14:30 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On the day of the accident, the pilot landed at the Chehalis-Centralia Airport and then had lunch with his son. After lunch, the pilot and his son decided to take a short flight to look at some nearby property. After takeoff, the pilot climbed to a little over 2,000 feet, and flew toward the location of the property. As the aircraft neared the subject area, he discovered that the property was covered by dense low-level fog. They therefore headed back to the airport. During the last part of the descending approach, the pilot advanced the power lever, but there was no response from the engine. The pilot attempted to stretch the glide to the end of the runway, but he was unable to do so, and he ultimately ended up ditching in a long narrow pond that was closely aligned with his approach heading. During the investigation it was determined that the selected fuel tank had about one gallon of fuel in it when the aircraft was recovered. It was also determined that the aircraft was operating in icing conditions severe enough that carburetor icing could be expected at cruise power and below. At the termination of the investigation, it could not be positively determined if the aircraft's engine was starved of fuel due to the low quantity in the selected left tank, or whether the pilot had forgotten to apply full carburetor heat resulting in a loss of power due to an accumulation of ice in the carburetor.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The total loss of engine power, for undetermined reasons, while the aircraft was on a VFR final approach. No suitable terrain for landing and water were factors.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 12/23/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1430 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Chehalis |
| Event State | WASHINGTON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 98532 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 464002N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1225856W |
| Event Location Airport | Chehalis-Centralia |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | CLS |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.5 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 150 |
| Airport Elevation | 173 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Witness |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | -- |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 2 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 2 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Calm |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 13728 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA Operations Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Dec 23 2002 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1500 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 23 2003 8:35AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Seattle FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N5985L |
| NTSB Number | SEA03LA020 |
| 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 | Grumman American |
| Aircraft Model | AA-1 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0285 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1500 |
| 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 | Dec 7 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 7.4 |
| Airframe Hours | 2398.5 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Donald Gamewell |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Randle |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98377 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| 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? | -- |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | CLS |
| Departure City | Chehalis |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | -- |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | -- |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - final approach |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 29 2003 2:08PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 33 |
| Runway Length | 5000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |