- Date
- March 3, 1990, 15:30 local (22:30 UTC)
- Place
- Tierra Amarilla, NM
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N99378Erco 415C
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report September 29, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19900303004859A
- Case key
- 17899
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
Induction icing induced power loss. Factors include continuation of flight into IMC conditions, and unsuitable mountainous terrain for a forced landing.
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 student pilot was returning home with a recently purchased VFR equipped airplane. Her father was in another plane, accompanying her. The two pilots had no inflight communication. The student pilot encountered clouds, snow showers, icing conditions, reduced visibility, and IMC over mountainous terrain. She reported loss of engine RPM at full throttle, pitot icing and loss of altitude. She sighted a highway and made a forced landing. The plane struck trees and came to rest inverted on the highway.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N99378
- Reported as
- Erco 415C
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 2001
- Engine
- Continental C-85-12, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Paxton, Thomas L.
- Registered owner
- Unknown
- Departed
- SKX · Taos, NM
- Destination
- DRO · Durango, CO
- Airport
- NONE
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
- 16
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 28 total · 28 in this make and model · 12 as pilot in command · 11 in the last 90 days · 6 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 240° at 15 knots
- Visibility
- 40 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 12,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
- Observed at
- SAF, 50 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.
Other investigations on N99378 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.