Piper PA28 151 N41618

Summary

On 22 February 2016 at about 01:15 local time, a Piper PA28 151 registered N41618 was involved in an accident near St. Augustine, Florida, United States. 2 people were 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

22 February 2016 at 01:15

Classification

Accident

Location

St. Augustine, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Northeast Florida Rgnl (SGJ)

Coordinates

29.9592, -81.3397

Aircraft

Piper PA28 151

Registration

N41618

Category

Airplane

Year built

1974

Engines

1

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

St. Augustine → St. Augustine

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Bright

NTSB number

ERA16LA119

Nobody was injured.

The flight instructor's overpriming of the engine during start, which resulted in a carburetor fire. Contributing to the severity of accident was the flight instructor's failure to follow the Pilot Operating Handbook's engine fire during start emergency procedures.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

According to the flight instructor, the airplane's engine stopped producing power during taxi immediately after landing. He attempted to restart the engine, but it caught fire. He stopped the airplane, and both the instructor and the student egressed, but they made no attempt to extinguish the fire because there was no fire extinguisher on board the airplane. Although the fire was eventually extinguished by first responders, it substantially damaged the airplane. Review of the Pilot's Operating Handbook (POH) revealed that engine fires during start were usually due to overpriming and that the first attempt to extinguish the fire should be to try to start the engine and draw the excess fuel back into the induction system. It is likely the flight instructor overprimed the engine, which resulted in an engine fire, and then failed to follow the POH procedure to extinguish the fire. Due to the instructor's failure to attempt to remediate the problem, the fire was not extinguished in a timely manner.  

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.