Aeronca 7AC N82658

Summary

On 11 April 2015 at about 17:07 local time, a Aeronca 7AC registered N82658 was involved in an accident near Spring City, Tennessee, United States. One person was on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

11 April 2015 at 17:07

Classification

Accident

Location

Spring City, Tennessee, United States

Coordinates

35.6867, -84.8892

Aircraft

Aeronca 7AC

Registration

N82658

Category

Airplane

Year built

1946

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Personal

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Andrews → Mc Minnville

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA15LA183

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's failure to properly apply carburetor heat in conditions conducive to carburetor icing, which resulted the accumulation of carburetor ice and the subsequent total loss of engine power.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The private pilot was returning the airplane to his home airport following maintenance. During the flight, as the airplane approached the destination airport and when the pilot applied climb power to clear terrain, the engine started sputtering and losing rpm. He subsequently applied carburetor heat, the engine rpm increased, and the airplane climbed momentarily. The engine then started sputtering again, and this time, the pilot applied carburetor heat, but it had no effect, and the engine then lost total power. Despite other efforts to restore engine power, the engine did not restart, so the pilot performed a forced landing to a field, during which the right main landing gear collapsed and the right forward wing strut sustained substantial damage. During a postaccident test-run, the engine operated normally with no anomalies noted, and an examination of the engine revealed no evidence of any preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures that would have precluded normal operation. The atmospheric conditions about the time of the accident were conducive to moderate carburetor icing at cruise engine power settings and serious icing at descent power. Therefore, given the evidence, it is likely that, because the pilot did not apply carburetor heat until after the engine began losing power, carburetor ice accumulated, which resulted in the loss of engine power.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.