- Date
- December 27, 2025, 17:49 UTC
- Place
- Ceres, VA
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N89884Cessna 140
- Defining event
- Enroute: Fuel related
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report May 21, 2026
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Investigation class
- Class 4 - Basic report with no Prelim publish
- NTSB office
- Eastern Region Aviation
- Parties
- FAA/FSDO
- FAA report
- 20251227018669A
- Case key
- 202223
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 pilot’s failure to recognize and mitigate carburetor icing, which resulted in a partial loss of engine power and forced landing.
Findings · 2
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
According to the pilot, while enroute, the engine rpm began to decrease. The pilot began to troubleshoot the partial loss of engine power by verifying the cockpit switches were in the correct position, verifying the fuel selector position, switching between the magnetos, and applying carburetor heat, but the engine power did not return. The airplane was unable to maintain altitude, so the pilot made a forced landing into a field, during which the airplane collided with a tree. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage and right wing. Following the accident, the pilot reported that there were no preimpact mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation and stated that the partial loss of engine power the airplane experienced on the accident flight was likely the result of carburetor icing. The weather conditions at the time of the accident were conducive to the formation of serious icing at glide engine power settings.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N89884
- Reported as
- Cessna 140
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 8929
- Built
- 1946
- Airframe hours
- 1,481
- Engine
- Continental Aerospace Technologies C85 SERIES, 85 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Valiair Lc Trustee
- Registered owner
- Valiair Lc Trustee
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · February 19, 2025 · 55 hours before
- Departed
- TRI · Blountville, NC
- Destination
- VBW · Bridgewater, VA
- Equipment
- ADS-B, Electronic flight bag or handheld device
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 29
- Injuries
- Serious
- Certificates
- Private, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Last flight review
- August 24, 2025
- Seat
- Left
- Restraint
- Lap only
- Flight hours
- 970 total · 198 in this make and model · 839 as pilot in command · 31 in the last 90 days · 21 in the last 30 days · 6 in the last 24 hours
- Role
- Pilot-rated passenger
- Age
- 25
- Injuries
- Minor
- Certificate
- Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, With waivers/limitations
- Seat
- Right
- Restraint
- Lap only
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 280° at 12 knots, gusting 18
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Temperature
- 59 °F, dew point 43 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.06 inHg
- Observed at
- MKJ, 7 nm away
- METAR
- METAR KMKJ 271655Z AUTO 28012G18KT 10SM SCT036 15/06 A3006
Docket · 6
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 21, 2026, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 5.6 MB 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.
Other investigations on N89884 · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.