- Date
- March 11, 1983, 13:05 local (21:05 UTC)
- Place
- Bakersfield, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Maneuvering
- Aircraft
- N630CBVans RV-3A
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19830311007229A
- Case key
- 23639
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
According to the plt, he took off, climbed to 1500 ft & set the engine controls at cruise power (2500 RPM at 160 mph). He stated that he then turned back toward the arpt & made a low pass without changing the power setting. As he started to climb from the low pass, he tried to add power, but there was no response. While making a forced landing in a field, the home built acft hit a ditch & nosed over. According to the pilot, no engine log book was available. Initially, he suspected that broken, engine mounts had affected the mixture control, but subsequently he believed that carburetor ice had accumulated. No other malfunction or failures were reported. The temp & dew point were 64 & 52 deg, respectively. According to icing probability charts, serious carburetor icing could have occurred at glide power & visible icing was probable at cruise power.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N630CB
- Reported as
- Vans RV-3A
- Category
- Airplane, amateur-built
- Serial number
- RV-3A
- Airframe hours
- 40
- Engine
- Lycoming O-290-D2, 135 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Calvin Baker
- Airworthiness certificate
- Special, Experimental (Special)
- Last inspection
- Annual · August 4, 1982
- Airport
- L45 · Bakersfield, runway 31, 3,200 × 50 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
- 58
- Certificates
- Flight instructor, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Center
- Flight hours
- 9,260 total · 40 in this make and model · 9,260 as pilot in command · 63 in the last 90 days · 2 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 340° at 8 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 2,800 ft broken
- Temperature
- 64 °F, dew point 52 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- BFL, 7 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.