Cessna 150 N5611E

Summary

On 16 February 2006 at about 16:15 local time, a Cessna 150 registered N5611E was involved in an accident near White Salmon, Washington, United States. One person was on board and one was seriously injured. The aircraft was destroyed. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

16 February 2006 at 16:15

Classification

Accident

Location

White Salmon, Washington, United States

Nearest airport

Port Elsner Airport (75WA)

Coordinates

45.8022, -121.4794

Aircraft

Cessna 150

Registration

N5611E

Category

Airplane

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

White Salmon → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

SEA06LA053

1 person was seriously injured.

The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control and the subsequent inadvertent stall/spin to the ground. Contributing factors were the inadequate preflight by the pilot, and the airplane's fuel contamination by water.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

A witness said she heard a loud engine noise and turned to see a bright yellow airplane taking off. Seconds later, she said the noise stopped, and she turned to see the airplane "crash." The airplane was not equipped with shoulder harnesses; the pilot was critically injured with a broken eye socket, broken cheekbone, bruises on the brain, and possible broken vertebrae. The Sheriff's Deputy said that he arrived on scene approximately 30 minutes after the accident. He said "the temperature was below freezing, the sun was shining and a heavy layer of frost was on the ground. Frost was melting off the aircraft and water was dripping onto the ground." He said it had rained heavily the past several days and he was told that the airplane had been parked outside. On February 17, 2006, a FAA inspector and a representative of the airplane's manufacturer went to the scene and found the airplane approximately 500 feet west of the departure end of runway 17 of a private grass 1,600 foot long airstrip. They found the fuselage nose down with both wings bent forward and compression damage to both outboard leading edges. The right wing root attachment points had separated. The wing strut attachment points were secure. The empennage was broken aft of the cabin area, and rotated 90 degrees toward the right wing; the right horizontal stabilizer was holding the back portion of the fuselage off the ground. The airplane had an STC engine conversion to a Lycoming O-320, 150 horse powered engine. Water was found in the carburetor and approximately 1-2 tablespoons of frozen water were found in the fuel strainer. Minimal rotational signatures were noted on the propeller. Due to the serious nature of the pilot's injuries, he was not interviewed and a written statement was never obtained. FAA pilot medical application records indicate that the pilot had more that 23,000 hours of flight experience.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.