Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Illinois Valley Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cave Junction, Oregon 97523
Thursday, January 1, 2004 18:35 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The two commercially certificated flying pilots, accompanied by an airline transport rated pilot and a second passenger, departed Oakland, California, en route to North Bend, Oregon. A weather briefing had been obtained indicating an AIRMET for rime icing from the freezing level to 18,000 feet. The aircraft departed late in the afternoon, climbed to 12,000 feet and occasionally climbed to 13,000 feet for short durations in order to remain VMC above a cloud layer. Night environmental conditions existed when both engines began losing power and the copilot radioed Seattle Center that the aircraft had encountered "way too much induction ice to the engines," declaring an emergency. The pilot-in-command reported the outside air temperature at the power loss was about -20 degrees Celsius and he immediately applied full carburetor heat and began trouble shooting the problem while descending back toward a nearby airport. Application of carburetor heat bypassed the ice blocked induction air filters allowing unfiltered, warmed air to flow directly to the carburetors. Remedial action by the crew failed to regain full power and the aircraft broke out of the cloud bases in heavy snow too far down the runway to effect a landing. The pilot then began a turn to line up and land on the adjacent highway just east of the runway during which the aircraft's right wing struck several trees and the aircraft impacted near the west edge of the highway a short distance beyond.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Both the pilot-in-command and the co-pilot allowing the aircraft to enter into an area of adverse weather (icing conditions at low [-20 degrees C] temperatures) resulting in sequential induction icing, induction filter blockage, carburetor icing and the subsequent partial loss of power in both engines followed by tree impact and collision with terrain during an emergency descent/approach. Contributing factors were icing conditions, low temperatures, night conditions and trees.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 1/1/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1835 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Cave Junction |
| Event State | OREGON |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 97523 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 1 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 420539N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1234056W |
| Event Location Airport | Illinois Valley |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | 3S4 |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 0.75 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 166 |
| Airport Elevation | 1394 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1856 Pacific Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 213 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | CEC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 57 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 31 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PST |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 3400 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2700 |
| 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) | 6 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 280 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.91 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Fatal |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | 1 |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | 3 |
| Injury Total All | 4 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 16616 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA SEA ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 1 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1856 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 28 2004 10:11AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Hillsboro FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N53505 |
| NTSB Number | SEA04FA031 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 91: General Aviation |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Piper |
| Aircraft Model | PA-44-180 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 44-96126 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 3800 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | 100 Hour |
| Date of Last Inspection | Dec 18 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 50.1 |
| Airframe Hours | 1296.8 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Piper Project II, LLC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 2621 180th Avenue East |
| Aircraft Owner City | Sumner |
| Aircraft Owner State | WA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 98390 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Auburn Flight Service, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 506 23rd Avenue NE |
| Operator City | Auburn |
| Operator State | WA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 98002 |
| Operator Code | GICA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| 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 | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | OAK |
| Departure City | Oakland |
| Departure State | CA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1612 |
| Departure Time Zone | PST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | OTH |
| Destination City | North Bend |
| Destination State | OR |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - VFR pattern - turn to base |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 25 2004 3:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | STAM |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 36 |
| Runway Length | 5200 |
| Runway Width | 75 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |