Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Big Lake, Alaska 99652
Thursday, April 22, 2004 16:32 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight instructor was instructing the dual student in preparation for a private pilot certificate. It was their first flight together, and the instructor's first flight in the accident type airplane. The instructor initiated a simulated loss of engine power by reducing the engine power to 1,000 rpm, and the student made an approach to an abandoned airstrip. When the instructor told the student to recover and apply power, the engine would not respond. The instructor took control of the airplane, but collided with trees short of the airstrip. Postaccident inspection of the engine disclosed no obvious mechanical issues. The engine was placed on another airframe, and was readily started and operated through various power settings. At the time of the accident, visible moisture in the presence of cloud cover was present, and the temperature and dew point spread were conducive to the formation of carburetor ice. The instructor and the student disagree on what instructions were given by the instructor during the simulated emergency and subsequent loss of engine power. The instructor said he told the student what to do, including checking the carburetor heat. The student, the airplane owner, refuted that the instructor told him to activate the carburetor heat, and said that he did not activate the carburetor heat. The instructor wrote that he saw a knob pulled on the left side of the panel when he exited the airplane. Photographs taken shortly after the accident depict the carburetor heat control on the left side of the panel extended about 1/2 of its full travel. The photographs also revealed that the fuselage had been compressed several inches during the impact, and that the engine had been pushed in and down. The instructor said it was difficult for him to see the position of the carburetor heat control on the front panel from his rear-seat position.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight instructor's failure to insure that the carburetor heat was activated by the dual student following a simulated loss of engine power, which resulted in carburetor ice and the actual loss of engine power during a descent. A factor associated with the accident is carburetor icing weather conditions.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/22/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1632 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Big Lake |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99652 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 614000N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1502000W |
| 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 | 1451 Atlantic Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 25 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PAUO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 221 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 8 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | AST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3000 |
| 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) | 30 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 8 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -3 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 175 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.47 |
| 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) | 17068 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA, ANC ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 22 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1710 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 27 2005 3:52PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Anchorage |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N55AD |
| NTSB Number | ANC04LA045 |
| 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 | Arctic Aircraft Corp. |
| Aircraft Model | S-1B2 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1006 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1650 |
| 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 | May 19 2003 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 29 |
| Airframe Hours | 753 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Timothy R. Bruns |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wasilla |
| Aircraft Owner State | AK |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 99687 |
| 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) | Instructional |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | PAUO |
| Departure City | Big Lake |
| Departure State | AK |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1600 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| 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 | Emergency descent/landing |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |