- Date
- December 6, 1989, 08:05 local (16:05 UTC)
- Place
- Inyokern, CA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N4390UCessna 150D
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report July 22, 1992
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19891206050049A
- Case key
- 26702
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 use carburetor heat when climatic conditions were conducive to the formation of carburetor ice.
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 pilot reported that he was conducting an aerial surveillance of hiking trails from about 200' AGL and that he was using a slow cruise power setting of 2000 RPM. The pilot stated that the outside air temperature was 35 degrees fahrenheit and the nearest weather reporting facility located about 7 miles east of the accident site reported the dew point at 28 degrees fahrenheit. After flying at slow cruise for several minutes, the aircraft's engine lost power and the pilot executed a forced landing. The aircraft was operating in conditions conducive to carburetor icing.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N4390U
- Reported as
- Cessna 150D
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 15060390
- Engine
- Continental O-200-A, 100 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Operator
- Anderson Aviation
- Departed
- IYK
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
- 42
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 631 total · 350 in this make and model · 595 as pilot in command · 93 in the last 90 days · 34 in the last 30 days · 1 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- Calm
- Visibility
- 50 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 36 °F, dew point 28 °F
- Observed at
- NID, 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.
Other investigations on N4390U · 1
Matched to the same aircraft by N-number and date.