- Date
- May 11, 1983, 19:23 local (23:23 UTC)
- Place
- Ceresco, MI
- Injuries
- 1 serious
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Approach
- Aircraft
- N3355HErcoupe 415-C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830511018629A
- Case key
- 12170
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
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 plt reported that the acft was normal until he was on final apch to land. The acft began to loose too much altitude, so he advanced the throttle, then the eng lost power. Subsequently, the acft hit the top of a tree short of the rwy, then crashed. An exam of the acft revealed that the carburetor heat cable was loose & heavy soot deposits were found in the exhaust stacks & on the spark plugs. The temp & dew point were 74 & 42 deg, respectively. According to icing probability charts, serious carburetor icing could occur at glide power.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N3355H
- Reported as
- Ercoupe 415-C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 3980
- Airframe hours
- 1,276
- Engine
- Continental C-85-12F, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- George B. Wilson
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · November 6, 1982
- Airport
- RLA · Ray Farm, runway 27, 1,600 × 50 ft, grass/turf
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 47
- Certificate
- Student
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Front
- Flight hours
- 81 total · 28 in this make and model · 29 as pilot in command · 3 in the last 90 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 170° at 4 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 25,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 73 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BTL, 4 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.