CHI97FA059

After landing at the airport, the airplane was taxied to a fixed base operator to pick up a passenger. Rime ice, as thick as two inches was seen on the airplane, and the pilots of the airplane attempted to manually remove the ice. The airplane was topped off with fuel before departure. During departure from runway 31R, the airplane collided with a fence. Numerous areas of ice were found on the airplane following the accident. Both propellers had similar damage. The pilots had reported to the FAA that the left engine had sustained a loss of power. The passenger reported that he did not notice any loss of power from either engine. No preimpact part failure or malfunction of the left engine was found.

History of flight

On January 22, 1997, at 1326 central standard time (cst), a Cessna 401, N5AS, piloted by a commercially certificated pilot, was substantially damaged during a collision with a fence and snow covered terrain, shortly after takeoff. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The two pilots received minor injuries, the passenger was uninjured. The 14 CFR Part 91 flight was operating on an IFR flight plan. The flight departed Crystal Airport, Crystal, Minnesota, at 1324 cst, with an intended destination of Lansing, Michigan.

Aircraft information

N5AS was flown into Crystal Airport to pick up a passenger and fly that passenger to Lansing, Michigan. After landing at Crystal Airport N5AS was taxied to a fixed base operator (FBO) to pick up the passenger. Employees from the FBO where the airplane stopped to pick up the passenger reported that when the airplane taxied in there was a significant amount of ice on many portions of the airplane. One employee stated that there was approximately two inches of ice on the spinners of the engines. The employee also stated that the ice appeared to be mostly rime ice on the airplane. Employees of the FBO reported that the pilots of the airplane did not request any deice of the airplane, and began manually removing ice from the airplane. The employee of the FBO also stated that the airplane's fuel tanks were all filled before the airplane departed.

Wreckage and impact information

N5AS departed from runway 31R at the Crystal Airport, which is listed at 3,263 feet long. The airplane impacted with the fence which surrounds the airport property. On top of the fence barbed wire had been strung. The investigator in charge (IIC) approximated the top of the fence at 12 feet high. After impacting the fence the aircraft came to rest in a housing area.

The right wing outboard of the engine nacelles had separated from the airframe. The left wing leading edge was crushed, and U shaped, and torn back from its original location. The inboard areas on both wings between the engine nacelles and the fuselage had numerous small areas of ice adhering to their upper surface.

Both tip tanks had separated from the airframe. Both propellers appeared to have similar leading edge and bending damage present. All of the propeller blades when checked by the IIC would rotate in their hub. The landing gear and flaps were found retracted.

The horizontal stabilizer did not show any signs of significant damage. The horizontal stabilizer leading edge deice boots had numerous small areas of ice adhering to its upper surface.

The deice boot of the vertical stabilizer had rime ice which was approximately three quarters of an inch thick adhering to three quarters of its length. The leading edge of the vertical stabilizer behind the deice boot had torn sheet metal, which appeared to have been caused by barbed wire.

Tests and research

The pilots had reported to a Federal Aviation Administration employee that the left engine had sustained a loss of power. The IIC removed the cowling from the left engine to examine the engine. All engine controls appeared to be connected. No signs of any loose fuel, air, or oil lines were noted. The top spark plugs were removed from each cylinder, and appeared to be a light gray color with no discrepancies noted. When the propeller was rotated compression was found on all cylinders of the engine. The top of the fuel manifold was removed and fuel was found in the fuel manifold. The magnetos were tested by the IIC on January 29, 1997. Both magnetos would produce spark when rotated using an electric drill, form each of the 6 terminals on the back of the magneto. When the left wing tank fuel cap was removed a small amount of fuel was seen still in the ruptured fuel tank.

Additional information

Two employees of the FBO where the airplane had received fuel watched the airplane attempt departure. Both employees reported that the engines sound normal, and did not notice any abnormalities. One employee reported that the airplane appeared to rotate at the intersection that runway 31R makes with runway 5L-23R. The approximate distance from the beginning of the takeoff roll to this point would be 2,450 feet.

During the examination of the left engine by the IIC the passenger from the flight returned to the airport. The IIC questioned the passenger if he had noticed any loss of power on either engine during takeoff. The passenger said that he did not notice any loss of power on either engine, and reported that after the airplane lifted off from the runway it felt as if the airplane was being held back, and not accelerating.