- Date
- December 4, 2013, 12:25 local (16:25 UTC)
- Place
- Soldotna, AK
- Injuries
- 2 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N88342Bellanca 7GCBC
- Defining event
- Enroute-cruise: Structural icing
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 1, 2014
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Alaska Regional Office
- Parties
- FAA Anchorage FSDO
- FAA report
- 20131204024599A
- Case key
- 88518
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The operation of the airplane by the uncertificated student pilot, his failure to recognize conditions conducive to structural icing, and subsequent decision to depart in conditions conducive to structural icing, resulting in a severe icing encounter and forced landing.
Findings · 5
NTSB’s coded findings. Those marked are part of the probable cause; the rest are factors or other findings. Under each, the cases with the same finding.
Sequence of events
The events NTSB coded, in order, by phase of flight. The defining event is the one that best describes the accident. Under each, the cases with the same event anywhere in their sequence.
Analysis
The uncertificated student pilot stated that he had been watching the weather for three days waiting for suitable flying conditions. He checked the automated weather at a nearby airport, and decided that conditions were suitable for flying. He and a passenger then took off on a cross-country flight. During the climb to cruise altitude, the uncertificated student pilot began to notice specks of ice on the windscreen. A short time later, ice suddenly began to accumulate rapidly on the airplane, obscuring the windscreen. He could see an airstrip ahead and to the left of the airplane, and started a rapid descent to set up for a landing. As he approached the airstrip, he said that he was still too fast and too high to attempt a landing, so he initiated a go-around. During the second landing attempt, he said that the airplane felt very heavy and sluggish, and as he began to slowly decrease the throttle on the landing approach, the airplane began to lose altitude very fast. He attempted a second go-around, but the engine backfired and lost power. He landed the airplane just past the end of the airstrip on a dirt road, but the right wing struck a power line guy wire, and the airplane spun to the right, striking a road sign. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and empennage. The pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Factual narrative
The uncertificated student pilot stated that he had been watching the weather for three days waiting for suitable flying conditions. He checked the automated weather at a nearby airport, and decided that conditions were suitable for flying. He and a passenger then took off on a cross-country flight. During the climb to cruise altitude, the uncertificated student pilot began to notice specks of ice on the windscreen. A short time later, ice suddenly began to accumulate rapidly on the airplane, obscuring the windscreen. He could see an airstrip ahead and to the left of the airplane, and started a rapid descent to set up for a landing. As he approached the airstrip, he said that he was still too fast and too high to attempt a landing, so he initiated a go-around. During the second landing attempt, he said that the airplane felt very heavy and sluggish, and as he began to slowly decrease the throttle on the landing approach, the airplane began to lose altitude very fast. He attempted a second go-around, but the engine backfired and lost power. He landed the airplane just past the end of the airstrip on a dirt road, but the right wing struck a power line guy wire, and the airplane spun to the right, striking a road sign. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the right wing and empennage. The pilot stated that there were no preaccident mechanical anomalies with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N88342
- Reported as
- Bellanca 7GCBC (NO SERIES)
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 768-74
- Built
- 1974
- Airframe hours
- 1,848
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-A2D, 150 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · May 23, 2013 · 8 hours before
- Departed
- Sterling, AK
- Destination
- PGM · Port Graham, AK
- Airport
- 88AK · Dutch Landing Strip, runway 25, 1,300 × 100 ft, snow
- Equipment
- Handheld GPS
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Student pilot
- Age
- 49
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Unknown
- Last flight review
- August 7, 2012
- Seat
- Front
- Restraint
- 4-point
- Flight hours
- 280 total · 265 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 90° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 9,000 ft overcast
- Temperature
- 21 °F, dew point 19 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.47 inHg
- Icing
- Unknown
- Observed at
- PASX, 6 nm away
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on March 12, 2014, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 804 KB in all.
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.