- Date
- November 14, 1988, 20:45 local (Nov 15, 1988, 01:45 UTC)
- Place
- Lawrenceville, GA
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Initial climb
- Aircraft
- N96164Cessna R172E
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Status
- Completed · report January 16, 1990
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19881114050729A
- Case key
- 7955
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
Improper repair and/or modification of the carburetor airbox by unknown person(s), and the subsequent failure of maintenance personnel to detect the improper repair/modification during annual inspection(s), which led to a loss of power due to carburetor icing. A contributing factor was the presence of weather conditions conducive to the formation of carburetor ice.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The CFI & student were practicing touch-&-go lndgs at night when the eng lost pwr shortly after the 5th touch-&-go. Subsequently, the acft was dmgd when it was lndd in trees. Drg an exam of the eng, dark, sooty deposits were found on all spark plugs. The plugs were reinstalled & an opnl check of the eng was made. The eng started almost immediately & developed pwr when the throttle was opened. A further exam revealed that the carb heat door on the carb airbox would not move to the full on position when the carb heat control was activated. The airbox had been improperly modified and/or repaired. No entries were found in the acft logs concerning the airbox. The acft had flown aprx 97 hrs since the previous annual inspn aprx 5 mos before the acdnt. The temp & dew point were 61 & 45 deg, respectively. According to icing probability charts, conds were conducive to carb ice. The CFI rprtd the carb heat was used prior to each lndg.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N96164
- Reported as
- Cessna R172E
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- R172-0081
- Airframe hours
- 8,249
- Engine
- Lycoming O-360-A1A, 180 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Civil Air Patrol, Inc.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal; Standard, Utility
- Last inspection
- Annual · June 14, 1988 · 97 hours before
- Departed
- PDK · Atlanta, GA
- Airport
- 17A · Gwinnett County, runway 25, 4,000 × 75 ft, asphalt
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
- Pilot
- Age
- 42
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Private, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Right
- Flight hours
- 2,160 total · 38 in this make and model · 1,359 as pilot in command · 16 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Night/bright
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 61 °F, dew point 45 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- AHN, 32 nm away
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.