20180827012369A

On August 27, 2018 at about 1345 eastern daylight time (EDT), a Cessna 172G, N4379L substained substantial damage when it lost engine power and made an off field landing into a soybean field 2.2 statute miles east northeast of new salem, Indiana. The private pilot and passenger sustained minor injuries from the landing. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot under the provisions of title 14 code of federal regulations part 91 as a personal flight. Visual meteorological conditions existed at the time of the accident. No flight plan had been filed.

The aircraft departed farmville, virgina, enroute to the crawfordsville municipal airport (cfj), crawfordsville, Indiana, with a planed fuel stop at the greater portsmouth regional airport (pmh), portsmouth, Ohio. The aircraft was topped off with twenty-three gallons of avgas at pmh. The pilot stated when she was ready to depart pmh; the engine did not start the first time after using the fuel primer before starting the engine. As she primed the engine for the first start, the primer felt as if it did not have the normal pressure as it was pushed in. She waited about ten minutes, primed the engine again and the engine started normally. The primer pressure felt normal on the second engine start. The engine runup check before takeoff was normal.

The pilot stated she climbed to 4500 feet mean sea level (MSL). Approximately fifteen to twenty minutes after takeoff from pmh in level flight the engine ?sputtered? A little. She enrichened the mixture and descended to 2900 feet MSL and the engine cleared up. She leaned the mixture and set up cruise power at 2200-2300 RPM. One hour to one hour fifteen later, the engine ?sputtered? And started loosing rpms. The pilot stated she enrichened the mixture and switched to both tanks which helped the engine for about twenty seconds before the engine ceased to produce power. She did not try using carburetor heat or individually check the magentos. Her estimated altitude was 1500 to 2000 feet MSL at the time. The pilot stated the outside air temperature was about 80 degrees fahrenheit, and she did not believe carbuerator air icing was the cause. The passenger who monitors the engine instruments during their flights stated the carbuerator air temperature was in the green, and the engine instrument indications were normal when the engine ?sputtered?.

The pilot stated she had just flown over a private airfield and attempted to circle back to land. She realized she was too high to make the landing and elected to land in a soybean field. During the off field landing, she attempted to manuever between two electrical power poles and under the power line located on the approach end of the soybean field. The airplane?s left underwing impacted the power line and right wing impacted a drainage ditch on east side the road causing the aircraft to spin clockwise. The aircraft came to rest upright and slightly nose down in the field. Both occupants were able evacuate the aircraft without further injuries.

The FAA inspectors arrived at the accident site that afternoon. The national transportation safety board was not on site for the investigation. The airplane sustained substantial damage to both wings and the fuselage from the impact with the powerline and ground. The left and right wing fuel tanks were intact and had an adequate amount of usable fuel for the pmh to cfj flight leg. The wreckage was recovered from the accident site that evening and transported to a secure impound area for further examination.