- Date
- June 15, 1989, 16:30 local (21:30 UTC)
- Place
- Ely, MN
- Injuries
- 1 fatal, 1 serious, 1 minor
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N70466Cessna A185F
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report April 15, 1991
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19890615015699A
- Case key
- 34687
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
Loss of engine power for an undetermined reason. A factor related to the accident was: the presence of trees in the emergency landing area.
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
A normal preflt of the float plane was made with only straw of a bird nest being removed before flt. Two witnesses rprtd that the acft's engs seemed to be running at full power as the float plane was climbing to altitude over big moose lake (where the occupants of the acft had been fishing). One of the passengers (the plt's 15 yr old son) said the eng began to lose power & the plt reversed course in an atmt to land on the lake. However, he was unable to reach the lake & the acft collided with trees & swampy terrain during an emergency landing. No preimpact part failure or malfunction of the aircraft or eng was found during the investigation. After minor repairs, the eng ran normally during an opnl check.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N70466
- Reported as
- Cessna A185F
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 18502180
- Airframe hours
- 1,162
- Engine
- Continental IO-520-D, 300 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Personal · Part 91
- Registered owner
- Pucel, Joseph J.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Last inspection
- Annual · July 22, 1989 · 52 hours before
- Departed
- ELO · Ely, MN
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 47
- Certificate
- Private
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Single-engine sea
- Medical
- Class 3, Valid Medical--w/ waivers/lim
- Seat
- Left
- Toxicology
- Performed
- Flight hours
- 220 total
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 20° at 5 knots
- Visibility
- 15 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 4,000 ft broken
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 41 °F
- Altimeter
- 30.00 inHg
- Observed at
- ELO
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.