- Date
- April 27, 1991, 11:00 local (15:00 UTC)
- Place
- Meadville, PA
- Injuries
- 1 uninjured
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N739ECCessna 172
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 10, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910427012839A
- Case key
- 36916
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 improper use of carburetor heat control by the pilot, which resulted in the total loss of engine power and the subsequent emergency forced landing in rough terrain. A factor relating to the accident was the lack of experience of the student pilot.
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 on a solo cross country. While climbing through 2000 feet, the engine quit. The pilot said, 'I did the emergency procedures and it started again, but it quit very quickly. I picked a field to land. It was ok, until the nose hit some mud and flipped me over.' An examination of the engine by the FAA revealed no defects. The FAA report said, 'the engine run up showed no abnormal readings...both carburetor and fuel screens were...free of contaminates...the carburetor heat, mixture control and throttle control were inspected: no defects were noted.' The local temperature at the time of the accident was reported as 70 degrees f, and the dew point was 51 degrees f. when plotted on the FAA chart 'conditions favoring carb icing,' the result shows area number 2, serious icing at cruise power.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N739EC
- Reported as
- Cessna 172
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 17270476
- Engine
- Lycoming O-320-H2AD, 160 horsepower, reciprocating
- Damage
- Substantial damage
- Flight
- Instructional · Part 91
- Operator
- Baron Aviation Inc
- Registered owner
- Baron Aviation Inc
- Last inspection
- Unknown · January 2, 2000
- Destination
- BKL · Cleveland, OH
- Flight plan
- VFR
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
- 30
- Certificate
- Student
- Medical
- Class 2, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Flight hours
- 31 total · 23 in this make and model · 3 as pilot in command · 31 in the last 90 days · 8 in the last 30 days
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 70 °F, dew point 52 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.