Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Westerly State Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Westerly, Rhode Island 02891
Saturday, July 4, 2009 17:20 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The commercially-rated pilot flew the accident airplane for almost 4 hours on a banner-tow flight earlier on the day of the accident. He landed, refueled the airplane, detected some water in the fuel strainer sample, and sampled that until no more water was obtained. He then departed on the accident flight, which was another banner-tow mission. That flight lasted about 3 hours. When the airplane was inbound to, and approximately 2 miles from the home airport, and at an altitude of approximately 1,000 feet, the engine lost all power. The pilot described the power loss as "smooth," with no roughness or stumbling. He initially diverted for a golf course, enriched the mixture, applied carburetor heat, and attempted to re-start the engine. The engine did not re-start, and the pilot jettisoned the banner and steered for another emergency landing site that was closer. The airplane was substantially damaged during the landing and rollout. The airplane was equipped with a main fuel tank and an auxiliary fuel tank. Fuel could only be supplied to the engine from the main tank, and a manually-controlled pump was used to pump fuel from the auxiliary tank to the main tank. Only the main tank was equipped with a fuel gauge, and due to the opacity of its enclosure, the gauge was unreadable. Due to conflicting witness reports, the amount and distribution of the fuel on board at the time of the power loss and accident was not able to be definitively determined. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspectors found an unspecified amount of fuel in the carburetor bowl, and obtained a total of about 1/2 ounce of water from the carburetor bowl and the fuel strainer. They did not observe any mechanical conditions or problems that could have resulted in the engine power loss. The inspectors added fuel to the airplane, and the engine started and ran normally. According to carburetor ice envelope charts, the temperature and dew point values for the approximate time and location of the power loss were such that the airplane was operating in the region denoted as "Serious Icing at Glide Power."
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's failure to use carburetor heat resulting in a complete loss of engine power due to carburetor icing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/4/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1720 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Westerly |
| Event State | RHODE ISLAND |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 02891 |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 412100N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0714800W |
| Event Location Airport | Westerly State |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | WST |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 81 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1653 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 52 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | WST |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 81 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 2 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 23 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 16 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 15 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.76 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| 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 Docket Number (internal use) | 27152 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA New England ROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Aug 24 2010 1:04PM |
| User who most recently changed record | johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N4898Y |
| NTSB Number | ERA09LA380 |
| 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 | PIPER |
| Aircraft Model | PA-25-235 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 25-4706 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 2900 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 1 |
| Number of Engines | 1 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Annual |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 3 2008 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 119 |
| Airframe Hours | 7183 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Mark Simmons |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Pawcatuck |
| Aircraft Owner State | RI |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 06379 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | Mark Simmons |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Pawcatuck |
| Operator State | RI |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 06379 |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | None |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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) | Banner Tow |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | Yes |
| Departure Airport Code | WST |
| Departure City | Westerly |
| Departure State | RI |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1220 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | dest & departure same, accident can occur anywhere |
| Destination Airport Code | WST |
| Destination City | Westerly |
| Destination State | RI |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jul 9 2010 2:49PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |