Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Lyman, Maine 04002
Saturday, October 6, 2012 8:39 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
About 20 minutes into the cross-country flight, the pilot of the experimental amateur-built airplane detected a vibration of the airplane’s engine that “didn’t sound good,” and noticed a drop in the rpm of the automotive-conversion engine. He immediately applied carburetor heat, but the engine continued to lose power until the airplane could no longer maintain altitude and began to descend from its cruise altitude of 1,500 feet above ground level. The pilot performed a forced landing into the trees below, substantially damaging the airplane’s fuselage, wings, and empennage. Postaccident examination of the airplane, its engine, and its fuel system revealed no evidence of preimpact malfunctions or anomalies that would have precluded normal operation. Although the fuel system was compromised by impact damage, the fuel that remained in the system was absent of contamination. According to a carburetor icing probability chart published by the Federal Aviation Administration, the temperature and dew point reported at an airport located about 6 nautical miles from the accident site were conducive to “serious icing at cruise power.”
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The accumulation of ice in the automotive engine’s carburetor, which resulted in a loss of engine power.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/6/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 839 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Lyman |
| Event State | MAINE |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 04002 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 432950N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0703811W |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 835 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 230 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | SFM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 244 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 6 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| 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) | 8 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 16 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 210 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 5 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.79 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | KSFM 061235Z AUTO 21005KT 8SM CLR 16/13 A2979 RMK |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 2 |
| Injury Total None | -- |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 2 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 30969 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA NEROC |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 1 2013 1:58PM |
| User who most recently changed record | gots |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N3073X |
| NTSB Number | ERA13CA010 |
| 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 | MOULTON HOWARD WELLS |
| Aircraft Model | ULTRA-PUP |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 01 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 1000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | Yes |
| 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 | Conditional |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 4 2011 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 100 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | C91-A |
| Aircraft Owner Name | MOULTON HOWARD WELLS |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 282 HALEY RD |
| Aircraft Owner City | KITTERY |
| Aircraft Owner State | ME |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 03904-5405 |
| Operator is an individual? | Yes |
| Operator Name | MOULTON HOWARD WELLS |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 282 HALEY RD |
| Operator City | KITTERY |
| Operator State | ME |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 03904-5405 |
| 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) | Personal |
| Second Pilot on Board | No |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | 3B4 |
| Departure City | Eliot |
| Departure State | ME |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 830 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | IWI |
| Destination City | Wiscasset |
| Destination State | ME |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 1 2013 1:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | gots |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |